Tech Leaders Couldn't Beat Trump; They'll Meet Him Instead

Technology leaders are about to come face-to- face with President-elect Donald Trump after fiercely opposing his candidacy, fearful that he would stifle innovation, curb the hiring of computer-savvy immigrants and infringe on consumers’ digital privacy.

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On Wednesday, Silicon Valley luminaries and other technology leaders are headed to Trump Tower in New York to make their peace - or press their case - with Trump and his advisers. The CEOs planning to attend include Apple’s Tim Cook, Alphabet’s Larry Page, Microsoft’s Satya Nadella, Amazon’s JeffBezos, Intel’s Brian Krzanich, IBM’s Ginni Rometty, Oracle’s Safra Catz and Cisco Systems’ Chuck Robbins.

Facebook’s chief operating officer, Sheryl Sandberg, will be on hand instead of its CEO, Mark Zuckerberg, who was one of many tech executives to express misgivings about Trump’s pledge to deport millions of immigrants.

TECH VS. TRUMP

It could be a prickly meeting.

No other industry was more open in its contempt for Trump during the campaign. In an open letter published in July, more than 140 technology executives, entrepreneurs and venture capitalists skewered Trump as a “disaster for innovation.”

And Trump’s denigration of Mexicans, his pledge to deport millions of immigrants now living in the U.S. illegally, and his crude remarks about women were widely viewed as racist, authoritarian and sexist by an industry that prides itself on its tolerance.

Trump, in turn, sometimes lashed out at the industry and its leaders.

He lambasted Bezos for the campaign coverage of his newspaper, The Washington Post, and suggested that Amazon could face antitrust scrutiny if he was elected.