
As Jeff Bezos and Mark Zuckerberg try to curry favor with the new president, they appear to be warming to Donald Trump's "First Buddy" Elon Musk after years of frosty relations.
It is all part of a dance in which the two are trying to escape Trump's longtime ire and direct it elsewhere within the tech world.
That lovefest was on display last week. Musk and Bezos exchanged early valentines through postings on X about each other's respective rocket launches. And Zuckerberg-who was agreeing not long ago to cage fight Musk-delivered the sincerest form of flattery: imitating Musk by going Trumpcore and abandoning Meta Platforms' fact-checking and DEI principles.
"Real Mark," as the Facebook co-founder described himself on Joe Rogan's podcast, sounded a lot like Musk in recent years. The Tesla and SpaceX CEO has rallied against the "woke mind virus," his term for progressive policies, such as diversity, equity and inclusion, that he says weaken organizations.
Musk's relationships with business rivals Bezos and Zuckerberg have long been notable for their public confrontations-often punctuated by Musk's own tweets.
This story is from the January 21, 2025 edition of The Wall Street Journal.
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This story is from the January 21, 2025 edition of The Wall Street Journal.
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