Billionaire Bill Gates details dinner that left him ‘impressed’ by President-elect Trump

Billionaire Bill Gates recently offered a rare glimpse into his private conversation with President-elect Donald Trump and a nearly three-hour dinner that left him “impressed.” Gates, who backed Trump’s opponent Vice President Harris in the 2024 election, seemed to walk away from the dinner with feelings of optimism about the president-elect.

“I had a chance, about two weeks ago, to go have a long and actually quite intriguing dinner with him,” Gates told The Wall Street Journal.

In his interview, Gates detailed the “wide-ranging” dinner conversation, noting that he spoke with Trump about public health, which has been the major focus of Gates’ philanthropic efforts.

“I felt like he was energized and looking forward to helping to drive innovation,” Gates told WSJ. “I was frankly impressed with how well he showed a lot of interest in the issues I brought up.”

BILL GATES SAYS ULTRA-WEALTHY WOULD ‘HAVE A THIRD AS MUCH’ IF HE CREATED TAX SYSTEM

Gates and Trump

Bill Gates (left) and President-elect Donald Trump (right). (Thierry Monasse/Rebecca Noble/Getty Images / Getty Images)

Gates’ dinner with Trump comes as a growing group of billionaires and tech leaders flock to meet with the president-elect ahead of his historic return to the White House. Amazon founder Jeff Bezos dined with Trump at Mar-a-Lago and pledged $1 million to the president-elect’s inaugural fund. Mark Zuckerberg’s Meta Platforms also gave $1 million to the fund.

Citing people familiar with the discussion, WSJ reported the promise of the paycheck came before Zuckerberg met with Trump at a November Mar-a-Lago dinner following the Republican’s presidential win.

Bill Gates headshot

Microsoft founder Bill Gates reacts during a visit with Britain’s Prime Minister Rishi Sunak to the Imperial College University on Feb. 15, 2023 in London. (Justin Tallis – WPA Pool/Getty Images / Getty Images)

MARK ZUCKERBERG PRAISES BENEFITS OF ‘MASCULINE ENERGY’, CALLS CORPORATE AMERICA ‘CULTURALLY NEUTERED’

At the dinner, according to the outlet, Zuckerberg also provided a demonstration of the company’s latest invention — Ray Ban Smart Glasses — and gifted them to Trump.

Bezos, who also made the trek to Trump’s Florida estate, said that he left the dinner feeling “very optimistic” about the incoming administration. He also brushed off concerns about Trump’s relationship with Elon Musk.

“Elon has been very clear that he’s doing this for the public interest and not for his personal gain. And I take him at face value,” Bezos told Reuters, referencing the SpaceX CEO.

Bill Gates in blue sweater

Bill Gates discusses his new book ‘How To Prevent The Next Pandemic’ onstage at 92Y on May 3, 2022, in New York City (Michael Loccisano/Getty Images / Getty Images)

AMAZON PLANS TO MAKE $1 MILLION DONATION TO TRUMP INAUGURAL FUND; BEZOS TO VISIT MAR-A-LAGO

Trump’s relationship with billionaires and tech moguls has changed tremendously since 2020, when he was banned from several social media platforms. Back in October, Gates was reported as saying privately that he gave about $50 million to a nonprofit supporting Vice President Harris.

GET FOX BUSINESS ON THE GO BY CLICKING HERE

Additionally, Zuckerberg announced an end to Meta’s controversial fact-checking policies in a push to bring back “free expression on Facebook and Instagram.” Zuckerberg admitted that the checks, which started in the wake of Trump’s 2016 victory, “destroyed more trust than they created.” He also stated that the policies led to “too much censorship,” despite the company trying “in good faith” to “address concerns” about misinformation.

Visited 1 times, 1 visit(s) today

Related Article

Why is China suddenly fascinated by Elon Musk’s son’s ‘Tiger Bag’?

(Image Credits: Instagram) What looked like a harmless children’s accessory in a room filled with diplomats and billionaires turned into one of China’s most unexpected viral online conversations. People are suddenly obsessing over an adorable ‘tiger bag’ spotted on Elon Musk’s son, X Æ A-Xii, also known as Lil X online.Chinese platforms quickly started to

Smithsonian Presidents Exhibit Reopens With Low-Key Trump Impeachment Mention

For the past year, the Smithsonian Institution has found itself in the awkward position of telling the nation’s story while being supported in part by a government that wants to narrow how that story is told. In December, the White House threatened to revoke funding to the institution if it did not hand over a

Trump’s China visit left chip export issue unresolved

This report is from this week’s The Tech Download newsletter. Like what you see? You can subscribe here. One look at the roster of U.S. execs that cozied up to U.S. President Donald Trump on the 20+ hours flight from Alaska to China on Wednesday and you get a sense of the American delegation’s key focus

We chose Amazon Leo and not Spacex because we want to work with a company that …

SpaceX CEO Elon Musk recently alleged Delta Airlines of rejecting its space internet service Starlink over Amazon’s Leo. In a post on X (formerly Twitter), the world’s richest man alleged that the real issue was the airline requiring passengers to access the in-flight Wi-Fi using the Delta Sync portal, which forces customers to log in

Readout of President Trump’s Meeting With Chinese President Xi Jinping

Readout of President Trump’s Meeting With Chinese President Xi Jinping – U.S. Embassy & Consulates in China Skip to main content An official website of the United States government Here’s how you know  Official websites use .gov A .gov website belongs to an official government organization in the United States. Secure .gov websites use HTTPS A

Warren Buffett, Stephen Curry lunch auction fetches $9 million for charity

May 14 (Reuters) – A bidder agreed to pay $9,000,100 at auction to dine with billionaire investor Warren Buffett and basketball superstar Stephen Curry in a charity fundraiser. The winning bid came in a weeklong auction on eBay that ended on Thursday, according to eBay’s website. The winner’s identity could not immediately be determined. Buffett,

How Should Southeast Asia Respond to Carney’s Davos Clarion Call?

Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney posited that the world order was not experiencing a “transition” but rather a “rupture” from the global system established in the aftermath of the Second World War. For Southeast Asia, and its primary institutional forum – ASEAN – this means recognising that some of its most cherished principles might no

Trump set to meet with China’s Xi for second day of Beijing summit

Trump said tonight that he brought top business leaders who traveled with him to China into his meeting with Xi and discussed how to increase trade between the U.S. and China. “I suggested that before we start the meeting, I’d like to introduce them to you, and they were surprised, because it wasn’t, you know,

While Donald Trump Adventures in China, D.C. Entertains Itself

On the National Mall, where Trump’s new tinge of paint made its way up the basin of the Reflecting Pool, three video-game consoles had been installed with an interactive game called Operation Epic Furious: Strait to Hell. It allowed players to simulate the Iran war. A few National Guard members took turns trying out the

Taking a Good, Long Look Into Elon Musk and “Muskism”

Interview by Doug Henwood Elon Musk needs no introduction. He is one of the leading capitalists of our time. Unlike many in tech, he gets down and dirty with the physical world (or rather, his employees do), building cars and rockets, digging tunnels, even implanting chips in people’s brains. He is also a master of

Canada to double electricity generation in next 2 decades: Carney

Merve Aydogan 14 May 2026•Update: 14 May 2026 Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney said Thursday that Canada plans to double its electricity generation over the next two decades to meet rising demand and strengthen the country’s energy resilience. “Electricity demand in Canada is expected to double by 2050, so we will double our grid,” Carney

0
Would love your thoughts, please comment.x
()
x