Jeff Bezos, founder and executive chairman of Amazon and owner of the Washington Post, takes the stage during the New York Times annual DealBook summit at Jazz at Lincoln Center on December 04, 2024 in New York City.
Michael M. Santiago | Getty Images
Amazon founder Jeff Bezos spoke optimistically of President-elect Donald Trump Wednesday at The New York Times’ DealBook Summit, saying he expects a more friendly regulatory environment in the upcoming administration.
“I’m actually very optimistic this time around,” Bezos said on stage. “He seems to have a lot of energy around reducing regulation. If I can help do that, I’m going to help him.”
Bezos’ comments struck a cheerful tone despite Trump publicly lambasting the billionaire during his first term. Trump repeatedly attacked Bezos and his companies, Amazon and The Washington Post, accusing them of dodging taxes or publishing “fake news,” among other things. Trump also repeatedly pointed the finger at Amazon for its use of the U.S. Postal Service, claiming the company contributed to the post office’s demise.
In 2019, Amazon blamed Trump’s “behind-the-scenes attacks” against the company for its loss of a multibillion-dollar Department of Defense contract, then called JEDI.
The animosity between the two preceded Trump’s time in the White House.
Prior to the 2016 election, Bezos criticized Trump’s behavior, saying it “erodes our democracy.” He offered to shoot Trump into space after the then-Republican candidate attacked Bezos for using the Post as a “tax shelter.”
But during the first Trump transition period eight years ago, Bezos expressed optimism similar to his current tone. Bezos was one of a number of major tech leaders, along with top execs from Alphabet, Apple, Facebook and others, who trekked to Trump Tower for a meeting with Trump in December 2016. At the meeting, both men appeared nothing but complimentary.
“I found today’s meeting with the president-elect, his transition team, and tech leaders to be very productive,” Bezos said at the time. “I shared the view that the administration should make innovation one of its key pillars, which would create a huge number of jobs across the whole country, in all sectors, not just tech—agriculture, infrastructure, manufacturing—everywhere.”
Bezos struck a fairly conciliatory tone with Trump in the lead up to this year’s election. He’s posted twice on X this year, giving his congratulations the day after Trump’s victory last month and praising Trump’s “grace under literal fire” following the attempted assassination of Trump at a Pennsylvania rally in July.
Bezos also publicly declared shortly before the election that the Washington Post would not be endorsing a candidate, breaking with decades of tradition. Editorial page staffers had drafted an endorsement of Democratic nominee Kamala Harris over Trump in the election, before Bezos killed the plan in late October.
“We knew there would be blowback and we did the right thing anyway,” Bezos said on Wednesday, acknowledging the criticism that followed. He called the move “far from cowardly.”
Bezos’ space company Blue Origin will frequently interact with Trump’s administration when it comes to vying to secure federal contracts. Blue Origin directly competes with Elon Musk’s space exploration company SpaceX. Musk has been a key ally for Trump in his campaign for the White House, contributing nearly $75 million to America PAC, a pro-Trump super political action committee he established earlier this year.
WATCH: Bezos says he’s proud of decision not to have Washington Post endorse presidential candidate