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More corporate chiefs fall in line behind Napoleonic Trump

Former Trump critic Sam Altman of OpenAI suddenly reckons the US president ‘will be incredible for the country in many ways’

US president Donald Trump with Masayoshi Son, chief executive of SoftBank; and Sam Altman, chief executive of OpenAI. Photograph: Haiyun Jiang/The New York Times
US president Donald Trump with Masayoshi Son, chief executive of SoftBank; and Sam Altman, chief executive of OpenAI. Photograph: Haiyun Jiang/The New York Times
Proinsias O'Mahony's picture
Proinsias O'Mahony
Sun Jan 26 2025 - 06:15

For corporate America, deciphering the political landscape has rarely been as important as it is today, which means one thing: telling Donald Trump what he wants to hear.

The latest corporate prostration involved OpenAI chief executive and one-time Trump critic Sam Altman. Following Trump’s announcement of a $500 billion AI investment involving OpenAI and others, Altman said that watching the president “more carefully” had “really changed my perspective on him” and that Trump “will be incredible for the country in many ways”.

The folks at TikTok, too, have got the message. After the supreme court upheld legislation banning the app in the US, TikTok owner ByteDance blamed the Biden administration for failing to “provide the necessary clarity and assurance”.

The app briefly went offline in the US, before soon restoring service and greeting users with the message: “Thanks to President Trump’s efforts, TikTok is back.”

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Mark Zuckerberg’s kissing-up to Trump has been well-publicised, as has the growing number of US companies ditching their diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) policies.

At Davos, former Goldman Sachs chief Lloyd Blankfein compared the corporate about-turn to how French newspapers changed their mind when Napoleon escaped from Elba in 1815. Initially characterising Napoleon as a “monster” and “ogre”, they announced “His Majesty” was arriving as he neared Paris. “And by the way,” Blankfein added, “Trump might even appreciate the comparison to Napoleon.”

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