Which CEOs ranked in big tech are mosying with the president
Executive summary
A clear roster of “big tech” chiefs has appeared around President Trump in recent high-profile settings: Meta’s Mark Zuckerberg, Apple’s Tim Cook, Microsoft’s Satya Nadella, Google’s Sundar Pichai and AI leaders such as OpenAI’s Sam Altman have sat at the same tables as the president at White House events, while Nvidia’s Jensen Huang and other CEOs showed up at Davos where Trump also met global executives [1] [2] [3] [4]. Reporting shows a mix of close rapport, strategic distance and transactional interaction rather than a single uniform alliance [5] [6] [2].
1. Who showed up with the president — the short list
The White House dinner and related AI meetings in September 2025 included Mark Zuckerberg of Meta, Tim Cook of Apple, Microsoft co-founder Bill Gates (in a senior tech role), and OpenAI’s Sam Altman, among others, confirming that several of the most prominent tech figures have been willing to “mosey” into the same room as the president [1] [2] [7]. Coverage of Davos 2026 shows big-name CEOs including Nvidia’s Jensen Huang and finance and consulting leaders were present at sessions where the president’s presence loomed large and receptions for global CEOs were organized after his address [3] [4].
2. Who notably did not — and why that matters
Elon Musk, once publicly close to Trump, was a conspicuous absence from the White House tech dinner and has had a cooling relationship with the administration, according to contemporaneous reporting that said Musk would not attend and that his ties had deteriorated [8] [5]. Nvidia’s Jensen Huang, while prominent at Davos, was reportedly missing from the White House dinner, illustrating that attendance patterns vary by event and by strategic interest rather than simple loyalty [5] [3].
3. Evidence of proximity versus transactional access
Photographs and reporting described Mark Zuckerberg sitting to the president’s right and sharing an easy rapport at the White House table, a striking image given past tensions between Trump and Meta, and signaling proximity for some leaders [5]. But multiple outlets framed these encounters as policy and investment conversations — the president asked executives about U.S. investment pledges at the dinner, and CEOs publicly recited multi-hundred-billion-dollar investment figures — underscoring a transactional element to the meetings [2] [1].
4. The broader pattern: courting tech for policy leverage and investment
Analysts and reporting portray CEOs’ dealings with the White House as a high-stakes game of loyalty, leverage and access, where CEOs use liaison offices or representatives to engage with the administration even if a one-on-one meeting with the president isn’t possible, and where gifts or symbolic gestures can smooth access, according to Bloomberg’s profile of the 2026 CEO playbook [6]. Event organizers at industry gatherings such as CES also explicitly positioned government–industry policy talks as central, showing an institutional pattern of tech leaders engaging government actors, including the president’s advisers [9].
5. Takeaway: who is “mosying” and what it signals
The factual record is clear that a roster of top tech executives — Zuckerberg, Cook, Nadella, Pichai, Altman and others — have accepted invitations to dine with or meet President Trump and his aides, while other influential figures have stayed away or attended different forums such as Davos where the president also appeared [1] [2] [3] [4]. This is less evidence of ideological alignment than of pragmatic engagement: CEOs seek influence on trade, AI policy and investment conditions, and the administration seeks public displays of corporate investment and technological legitimacy; reporting captures both motives rather than a single story of coziness [6] [2]. Where reporting is silent on private bargaining or the full guest lists for every encounter, this account does not speculate beyond the documented meetings and publicized attendees [4] [3] [1].