Trump Tower in New York City became the site of the biggest meeting of tech figures in years Wednesday, as President-elect Donald J. Trump called together Silicon Valley’s elite for a meeting of the minds.
Apple CEO Tim Cook was among those in attendance and was seated within arm’s reach of the Trump, even though Cook previously has been criticized by the recently elected Republican. Trump also called for a boycott against Apple products during the blistering presidential campaign.
Other tech icons at Wednesday’s summit included Larry Page, Elon Musk, Facebook COO Sheryl Sandberg, Microsoft’s Satya Nadella, Cisco CEO Chuck Robbins, Amazon’s Jeff Bezos, Intel CEO Brian Krzanich, Peter Thiel and Oracle CEO Safra Catz.
Meeting the President-elect
A few minutes of the meeting were recorded by NBC Nightly News editor Bradd Jaffy. In the clip, Trump doesn’t mention any changes he wants to make. The President-elect says everyone in the room has to like him “at least a little bit” because of the bounce the stock market is currently experiencing.
Trump to tech leaders: “You’re doing well right now and I’m very honored by the bounce…so right now everybody in this room has to like me” pic.twitter.com/LNhvHg31Wq
— Bradd Jaffy (@BraddJaffy) December 14, 2016
“We’re going to try and have that bounce continue. Even more importantly, we want you to keep going with the incredible innovation. There’s nobody like you in the world. There’s nobody like the people in this room,” Trump said.
Also in attendance were Trump’s children, who have been overseeing his transition team. Trump invited CEOs to call him directly with ideas or concerns, revealing there’s not a formal chain of command in his organization.
