Maybe this is just how billionaires do business. One threatens “such problems” and the other offers to shoot him into space. But now that one of the greatest upsets in presidential history has run its course, Jeff Bezos is apparently looking to play nice.
Congratulations to @realDonaldTrump. I for one give him my most open mind and wish him great success in his service to the country.
— Jeff Bezos (@JeffBezos) November 10, 2016
This morning, the Amazon founder offered benign congratulations to Trump on his win the other evening via Twitter, a format the president-elect knows all to well. “I for one give him my most open mind and wish him great success in his service to the country,” Bezos wrote, his first update since the election.
It’s not exactly a full-throated endorsement of Trump who personally called out Bezos, Amazon and The Washington Post on multiple occasions from the campaign trail, but it’s far from the condemnation we’ve seen from other tech executives. You can almost hear his teeth gritting as you read the thing.
Back in February, Trump called out Bezos by name, owing largely no doubt to the executive’s purchase of the Clinton-endorsing Washington Post. “If I become president, do they have problems,” Trump told a crowd, referring to Jeff Bezos and Amazon. “They’re going to have such problems.”
The @washingtonpost, which loses a fortune, is owned by @JeffBezos for purposes of keeping taxes down at his no profit company, @amazon.
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) December 7, 2015
The @washingtonpost loses money (a deduction) and gives owner @JeffBezos power to screw public on low taxation of @Amazon! Big tax shelter
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) December 7, 2015
If @amazon ever had to pay fair taxes, its stock would crash and it would crumble like a paper bag. The @washingtonpost scam is saving it!
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) December 7, 2015
.@washingtonpost is going out of its way to tell failing candidates how to beat Donald Trump.The Post doesn’t get that I’m good at winning!
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) December 7, 2015
Trump has also gone out of his way to accuse Bezos of buying the paper to provide tax shelter and score political influence for both himself and Amazon. Late last year, the future president fired off a series of characteristically Trump tweets, calling Bezos’s purchase of The Post a “scam” designed to “screw [the] public.”
Finally trashed by @realDonaldTrump. Will still reserve him a seat on the Blue Origin rocket. #sendDonaldtospace https://t.co/9OypFoxZk3
— Jeff Bezos (@JeffBezos) December 7, 2015
To which Bezos offered the candidate a (one assumes one-way) ticket on a Blue Origin rocket, even going so far as creating a hashtag for the occasion. Apparently that offer no longer stands.
