Business
Elon Musk went all-in to elect Trump. What a second Trump presidency could mean for big tech
SAN FRANCISCO — On election night, as Republican Donald Trump inched closer to reclaiming the U.S. presidency, some tech executives and venture capitalists rejoiced.
“The people of America gave @realDonaldTrump a crystal clear mandate for change tonight,” Elon Musk posted on his social media platform X, formerly known as Twitter.
The eccentric billionaire, who shared a Photoshopped image of himself carrying a sink into the Oval Office, has been a vocal supporter of Trump, who defeated Vice President Kamala Harris to win the White House.
The 2024 U.S. presidential election has been a wild ride, highlighting a divide between venture capitalists and tech executives — some of whom spent millions of dollars backing Trump while others poured money into Harris’ campaign. Both sides argued the candidates they support would benefit the tech industry.
Box Chief Executive Aaron Levie, who backed Harris and made the case the Democrat is pro-business, congratulated Trump on his win late Tuesday night. “What’s great about America is that we’re on a rocket ship right now and can keep accelerating with the right policies and execution,” Levie posted on X.
Musk stands to benefit from a second Trump presidency. He runs companies such as Tesla and SpaceX that hold billions of dollars in government contracts, but has also clashed with regulators. Trump said he would make Musk the head of a new “government efficiency commission,” sparking concerns about potential conflicts of interest. Once critical of policies that benefit electric vehicles, Trump softened his tone after Musk endorsed him.
Trump‘s and Harris’ campaigns didn’t respond to requests for comment.
Here’s how a Trump presidency could reshape the tech industry:
Artificial intelligence
Trump plans to repeal President Biden’s 2023 AI executive order, which aims to ensure businesses develop technology responsibly because he thinks it hinders innovation.
“In its place, Republicans support AI Development rooted in Free Speech and Human Flourishing,” according to a document that outlines policies he supports.
There will probably be some form of AI regulation under Trump, analysts say, but exactly what that will look like is unclear.
“Knowing what you’re going to be dealing with really matters for the business community,” said Todd O’Boyle, senior director of technology policy with the Chamber of Progress, a tech industry advocacy group. “We are entering really uncharted waters.”
Under Trump, there could be “rejuvenated interest” for state AI regulation, he said.
In California, lawmakers proposed a slew of AI-related bills this year and O’Boyle expects that will continue. Gov. Gavin Newsom vetoed Senate Bill 1047, a hotly contested bill that aimed to require developers of advanced AI models to adopt safety measures.
Trump could make a big push into AI innovation, analysts say. As the use of AI in the military rises, Trump’s campaign says he would “invest in cutting edge research and advanced technologies” in part to modernize the military, which would benefit tech firms such as Palantir and Anduril Industries.
Palmer Luckey, who founded Anduril Industries and supports Trump, urged his followers on X to “Pokemon Go to the polls.” As Trump moved closer to victory on election night, Luckey posted a photo of Pokémon character Ash Ketchum with a tear (apparently of joy) streaming down his face.
“When it comes to AI, what will rule is, if there’s money to be made, it’ll be supported,” said Olaf Groth, faculty member at UC Berkeley’s Haas School of Business and chief executive of think tank Cambrian Futures.
Trump could also punish companies that cross him.
His campaign has said he would pass a digital bill of rights and legislation to “drastically limit the ability of big social media platforms to restrict free speech.” Trump, who operates his own his own social media platform, Truth Social, has been critical of Facebook’s parent company Meta Platforms and Google, accusing them of censoring his speech, allegations they deny.
Citing competition with China, Trump has proposed imposing tariffs so businesses prioritize American suppliers. In the past, tech titans such as Apple that rely heavily on China to manufacture products such as the iPhone and the Apple Watch have managed to get tariffs waived.
O’Boyle said that the tech industry is “tariffs skeptical.”
“Tariffs are a tax on consumers,” O’Boyle said. “It’s hard to see how tariffs are going to address the economic challenges in the country. Tariffs slow trade. They create friction to trade.”
Cryptocurrency
Some of Trump’s vocal supporters include investors and twins Cameron and Tyler Winklevoss, who co-founded cryptocurrency exchange Gemini, and have accused the Biden administration of trying to destroy their industry.
A Trump presidency is a “huge win for crypto,” said Daniel Ives, a managing director at Wedbush Securities.
The Biden administration has proposed tax reporting requirements for cryptocurrency brokers and issued an executive order in 2022 to crack down on cryptocurrency scams, fraud and theft. The executive order also mentions exploring the creation of a digital U.S. dollar.
In his policy document, Trump’s campaign signaled he would be more friendly toward the cryptocurrency industry and roll back the Biden’s administrations actions. Republicans oppose the creation of a digital U.S. dollar.
“To the extent that the Biden administration was skeptical of fintech and crypto, it’s a reasonable bet that the Trump administration will reverse any fintech and crypto skeptical policies that the Biden administration stood up,” O’Boyle said.
Antitrust and TikTok
U.S. regulators have been trying to rein in the power of tech heavyweights such as Meta, Amazon and Google, which the U.S. government is considering breaking up after a federal judge declared that the search giant has an illegal monopoly on search.
For all his concerns about the power of tech companies, Trump signaled he’s wary about breaking up Google. In an October interview moderated by Bloomberg News, Trump said he would “do something” but stopped short of saying he would break up the search giant.
“It’s a very dangerous thing because we want to have great companies,” he said. “We don’t want China to have these companies. Right now, China is afraid of Google.”
Some tech industry observers expect that Trump will name a new Federal Trade Commission chair, pushing Lina Khan out of the role.
The previous Trump administration pushed for Chinese tech company ByteDance to sell TikTok due to the U.S. government’s security concerns with the popular video app’s ties to China. Trump, who has raised free speech concerns about banning TikTok, might be open to allowing the tech platform to stay in the U.S. so it can compete with Google and Meta, analysts say.
“The irony is, even though Trump started the TikTok ban narrative, he’s changed his tune significantly and would actually support TikTok within the U.S. with restrictions, and any talk of a ban would actually dissipate for TikTok,” Ives said.
In a video posted on social media in September, Trump said, “We’re not doing anything with TikTok.”
Nike is cutting about 1,400 jobs in its operations division, mostly from its technology department, the company said Thursday.
In a note to employees, Venkatesh Alagirisamy, the chief operating officer of Nike, said that management was nearly done reorganizing the business for its turnaround plan, and that the goal was to operate with “more speed, simplicity and precision.”
“This is not a new direction,” Mr. Alagirisamy told employees. “It is the next phase of the work already underway.”
Nike, the world’s largest sportswear company, is trying to recover after missteps led to a prolonged sales slump, in which the brand leaned into lifestyle products and away from performance shoes and apparel. Elliott Hill, the chief executive, has worked to realign the company around sports and speed up product development to create more breakthrough innovations.
In March, Nike told investors that it expected sales to fall this year, with growth in North America offset by poor performance in Asia, where the brand is struggling to rejuvenate sales in China. Executives said at the time that more volatility brought on by the war in the Middle East and rising oil prices might continue to affect its business.
The reorganization has involved cuts across many parts of the organization, including at its headquarters in Beaverton, Ore. Nike slashed some corporate staff last year and eliminated nearly 800 jobs at distribution centers in January.
“You never want to have to go through any sort of layoffs, but to re-center the company, we’re doing some of that,” Mr. Hill said in an interview earlier this year.
Mr. Alagirisamy told employees that Nike was reshaping its technology team and centering employees at its headquarters and a tech center in Bengaluru, India. The layoffs will affect workers across North America, Europe and Asia.
The cuts will also affect staffing in Nike’s factories for Air, the company’s proprietary cushioning system. Employees who work on the supply chain for raw materials will also experience changes as staff is integrated into footwear and apparel teams.
Nike’s Converse brand, which has struggled for years to revive sales, will move some of its engineering resources closer to the factories they support, the company said.
Mr. Alagirisamy said the moves were necessary to optimize Nike’s supply chain, deploy technology faster and bolster relationships with suppliers.
A bill that would have required insurers to offer coverage to homeowners who take steps to reduce wildfire risk on their property died in the Legislature.
The Senate Insurance Committee on Monday voted down the measure, SB 1076, one of the most ambitious bills spurred by the devastating January 2025 wildfires.
The vote came despite fire victims and others rallying at the state Capitol in support of the measure, authored by state Sen. Sasha Renée Pérez (D-Pasadena), whose district includes the Eaton fire zone.
The Insurance Coverage for Fire-Safe Homes Act originally would have required insurers to offer and renew coverage for any home that meets wildfire-safety standards adopted by the insurance commissioner starting Jan. 1, 2028.
It also threatened insurers with a five-year ban from the sale of home or auto insurance if they did not comply, though it allowed for exceptions.
However, faced with strong opposition from the insurance industry, Pérez had agreed to amend the bill so it would have established community-wide pilot projects across the state to better understand the most effective way to limit property and insurance losses from wildfires.
Insurers would have had to offer four years of coverage to homeowners in successful pilot projects.
Denni Ritter, a vice president of the American Property Casualty Insurance Assn., told the committee that her trade group opposed the bill.
“While we appreciate the intent behind those conversations, those concepts do not remove our opposition, because they retain the same core flaw — substituting underwriting judgment and solvency safeguards with a statutory mandate to accept risk,” she said.
In voting against the bill Sen. Laura Richardson, (D-San Pedro), said: “Last I heard, in the United States, we don’t require any company to do anything. That’s the difference between capitalism and communism, frankly.”
The remarks against the measure prompted committee Chair Sen. Steve Padilla, (D-Chula Vista), to chastise committee members in opposition.
“I’m a little perturbed, and I’m a little disappointed, because you have someone who is trying to work with industry, who is trying to get facts and data,” he said.
Monday’s vote was the fourth time a bill that would have required insurers to offer coverage to so-called “fire hardened” homes failed in the Legislature since 2020, according to an analysis by insurance committee staff.
Fire hardening includes measures such as cutting back brush, installing fire resistant roofs and closing eaves to resist fire embers.
Pérez’s legislation was thought to have a better chance of passage because it followed the most catastrophic wildfires in U.S. history, which damaged or destroyed more than 18,000 structures and killed 31 people.
The bill was co-sponsored by the Los Angeles advocacy group Consumer Watchdog and Every Fire Survivor’s Network, a community group founded in Altadena after the fires formerly called the Eaton Fire Survivors Network.
But it also had broad support from groups such as the California Apartment Association, the California Nurses Association and California Environmental Voters.
Leading up to the fires, many insurers, citing heightened fire risk, had dropped policyholders in fire-prone neighorhoods. That forced them onto the California FAIR Plan, the state’s insurer of last resort, which offers limited but costly policies.
A Times analysis found that that in the Palisades and Eaton fire zones, the FAIR Plan’s rolls from 2020 to 2024 nearly doubled from 14,272 to 28,440. Mandating coverage has been seen as a way of reducing FAIR Plan enrollment.
“I’m disappointed this bill died in committee. Fire survivors deserved better,” Pérez said in a statement .
Also failing Monday in the committee was SB 982, a bill authored by Sen. Scott Wiener, (D-San Francisco). It would have authorized California’s attorney general to sue fossil fuel companies to recover losses from climate-induced disasters. It was opposed by the oil and gas industry.
Passing the committee were two other Pérez bills. SB 877 requires insurers to provide more transparency in the claims process. SB 878 imposes a penalty on insurers who don’t make claims payments on time.
Another bill, SB 1301, authored by insurance commissioner candidate Sen. Ben Allen, (D-Pacific Palisades), also passed. It protects policyholders from unexplained and abrupt policy non-renewals.
Times Insider explains who we are and what we do, and delivers behind-the-scenes insights into how our journalism comes together.
Politicians in Washington and the reporters who cover them have an often adversarial relationship.
But on the last Saturday in April, they gather for an irreverent celebration of press freedom and the First Amendment at the Washington Hilton Hotel: The White House Correspondents’ Association dinner.
Hosted by the association, an organization that helps ensure access for media outlets covering the presidency, the dinner attracts Hollywood stars; politicians from both parties; and representatives of more than 100 networks, newspapers, magazines and wire services.
While The Times will have two reporters in the ballroom covering the event, the company no longer buys seats at the party, said Richard W. Stevenson, the Washington bureau chief. The decision goes back almost two decades; the last dinner The Times attended as an organization was in 2007.
“We made a judgment back then that the event had become too celebrity-focused and was undercutting our need to demonstrate to readers that we always seek to maintain a proper distance from the people we cover, many of whom attend as guests,” he said.
It’s a decision, he added, that “we have stuck by through both Republican and Democratic administrations, although we support the work of the White House Correspondents’ Association.”
Susan Wessling, The Times’s Standards editor, said the policy is a product of the organization’s desire to maintain editorial independence.
“We don’t want to leave readers with any questions about our independence and credibility by seeming to be overly friendly with people whose words and actions we need to report on,” she said.
The celebrity mentalist Oz Pearlman is headlining the evening, in lieu of the usual comedy set by the likes of Stephen Colbert and Hasan Minhaj, but all eyes will be on President Trump, who will make his first appearance at the dinner as president.
Mr. Trump has boycotted the event since 2011, when he was the butt of punchlines delivered by President Barack Obama and the talk show host Seth Meyers mocking his hair, his reality TV show and his preoccupation with the “birther” movement.
Last month, though, Mr. Trump, who has a contentious relationship with the media, announced his intention to attend this year’s dinner, where he will speak to a room full of the same reporters he often derides as “enemies of the people.”
Times reporters will be there to document the highs, the lows and the reactions in the room. A reporter for the Styles desk has also been assigned to cover the robust roster of after-parties around Washington.
Some off-duty reporters from The Times will also be present at this late-night circuit, though everyone remains cognizant of their roles, said Patrick Healy, The Times’s assistant managing editor for Standards and Trust.
“If they’re reporting, there’s a notebook or recorder out as usual,” he said. “If they’re not, they’re pros who know they’re always identifiable as Times journalists.”
For most of The Times’s reporters and editors, though, the evening will be experienced from home.
“The rest of us will be able to follow the coverage,” Mr. Stevenson said, “without having to don our tuxes or gowns.”
-
Denver, CO5 minutes agoWolves Back Up the Big Talk With Blowout Win Over Denver in Game 3
-
Seattle, WA11 minutes ago‘Rare’ Tiny-Home Compound Featuring 3 Adorable Abodes Hits the Market in Seattle for Just $900K
-
San Diego, CA17 minutes agoSan Diego Care Facility Owner Sentenced To House Arrest For Elder Abuse
-
Milwaukee, WI23 minutes agoMilwaukee father sentenced to life in prison in death of his 4-year-old son
-
Atlanta, GA29 minutes agoChina to send giant pandas to Atlanta again
-
Minneapolis, MN35 minutes agoMinneapolis campaigners press Swiss National Bank to dump Palantir investment
-
Indianapolis, IN41 minutes agoSaints lose third in a row in Indianapolis
-
Pittsburg, PA47 minutes agoThe Steelers’ Makai Lemon whiff is sadly emblematic of the state of the franchise