- Business leaders have been reacting to Donald Trump’s presidential election victory.
- Silicon Valley was politically divided in the run-up to the election.
- Here is what some of the most influential business figures have to say about the election outcome.
Top business leaders, investors, and philanthropists have been reacting to Donald Trump’s victory in the presidential election.
Fox News called the race early Wednesday morning. A little under four hours later, projections from CNN and other news organizations put Trump over the 270 Electoral College votes needed to win the presidency.
Throughout the campaign, Silicon Valley has been divided on which candidate to back.
Although Silicon Valley has historically leaned left, some of tech’s biggest names, including Tesla CEO Elon Musk and venture capitalist David Sacks, tilted right this election season.
Still, 875 venture capitalists pledged to vote and donate to Harris through an effort called VCsForKamala. A Business Insider analysis of publicly available FEC data revealed that VCs favored Democrats overall.
Some CEOs and executives have said Trump will better protect their business interests. Trump is expected to cut the corporate tax rate, extend tax cuts from his first term — the largest of which centered on businesses and wealthy Americans — ease some regulations, and increase tariffs.
Labor experts believe Trump may reverse policies making joining unions easier and could loosen workplace safety rules.
Others, though, are nervous that Trump’s economic plans could be inflationary. Prices are up over 20% over President Joe Biden’s first 45 months, which the administration has attributed to the pandemic and Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.
Economists at think tanks across the political spectrum have written that mass deportations and tariffs — which could be between 10% to 20% on most foreign goods — could spike inflation or hurt GDP.
Here is what some of the wealthiest and most influential business figures have to say about the election outcome.
