Major corporate interests and megadonors gave $239 million to fund Trump's inauguration

President Donald Trump’s inaugural committee raised $239 million, a new fundraising report shows, buoyed by million-dollar contributions from major companies and business executives.

The massive haul is more than double the $109 million raised for his first inauguration in 2017 (the record until now). Among those who wrote major checks were people tapped by Trump to become government officials, as well as prominent corporations (and their leaders) with business in front of the administration, particularly those in the oil, financial, technology and transportation sectors. 

Pilgrim’s Pride Corp., a major poultry producer, donated more than any other individual or company, sending $5 million to Trump's inaugural committee. Just behind was Ripple Labs, the cryptocurrency and blockchain company, which gave almost $4.9 million.

A handful of energy companies gave at least $500,000 each — including Chevron, ConocoPhillips, ExxonMobil, Shell and Occidental Petroleum Corp., as well as the political arm of the American Petroleum Institute.

Artificial intelligence and cryptocurrency companies ponied up too with similar donations, including Solana Labs, Open AI CEO Sam Altman, Ripple, C3.ai, Coinbase, Galaxy Digital Services, Perplexity AI.

Amazon and Meta each donated $1 million. Amazon founder Jeff Bezos and Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg attended Trump’s inauguration and received prominent seats in the Capitol Rotunda, where Trump was sworn in after bad weather scuttled the traditionally outdoor event. Apple CEO Tim Cook gave $1 million, as well.

Computing companies Micron, Nvidia, Qualcomm and Microsoft also made six-figure donations, as did health care companies such as Hims, Johnson and Johnson, Merck, Pfizer and Amgen. Live Nation donated $500,000, and two online gambling companies DraftKings and FanDuel each gave just under that.

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Other major donors include those with ties to the Trump administration, including some who eventually were tapped by the president for major administration roles.

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GOP megadonor Warren Stephens, whom Trump tapped as his ambassador to the United Kingdom, gave $4 million. Jared Issacman, Trump’s nominee to lead NASA, gave $2 million, as did Trump’s pick to be ambassador to Latvia, Melissa Argyros.

Tilman Fertitta, nominated to be ambassador to Italy, gave $1 million; Education Secretary Linda McMahon gave $1 million; Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick’s former employer, Cantor Fitzgerald, gave $1,047,000; New York Stock Exchange Chairman Jeffrey Sprecher, the husband of Small Business Administrator Kelly Loeffler, gave $1 million; and Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent gave $250,000.

And prominent Republican political donors opened their pocketbooks too: Miriam Adelson and Ken Griffin each gave $1 million, and members of the Ricketts, Schwab and DeVos families all gave six-figure checks.

Inaugural committees aren’t subject to any contribution limits, although foreign nationals or companies cannot donate (but their American subsidiaries can). Within 90 days of every inauguration, each committee must report its aggregate donations of $200 or more.