Mark Zuckerberg has become the latest tech CEO to meet with President-elect Donald Trump. The CEO of Meta met Trump at his Mar-a-Lago resort in Florida on Wednesday, the night before Thanksgiving. A spokesperson for Meta confirmed to Business Insider that the dinner took place. The New York Times was the first to report on the meeting.
"This is a critical moment for the future of American innovation. Mark is grateful to have been invited to dinner with President Trump and to have the opportunity to meet his team for the new administration," the statement said.
Details of the meeting have not been clarified immediately. A representative for Trump did not respond to a request for comment from Business Insider. Zuckerberg did not endorse any candidate for president in the 2024 election.
He has a tense relationship with Trump, who earlier this year threatened to imprison the billionaire if he was elected.
Zuckerberg praised how Trump reacted to the assassination attempt in July.
"Personally, witnessing Donald Trump stand up after being shot in the face and raise his fist with the American flag design into the air was one of the coolest things I've ever seen in my life," Zuckerberg said.
After Trump won the election, Zuckerberg was one of many tech and business leaders who congratulated him.
"Congratulations to President Trump on the decisive victory. We have many great opportunities ahead of us as a nation," he wrote in a post on Threads a day after the election. "Looking forward to working with you and your administration."
According to some reports, Trump and Zuckerberg met at least twice during the first term of the president-elect, including an unannounced meeting at the White House and a secret dinner with billionaire Peter Thiel in October 2019.
In 2021, Trump claimed that he should ban Facebook while in office, but said, "Zuckerberg kept calling me and came to the White House for dinner to tell me how great I am."
Facebook suspended the former president's account on the platform after the Capitol riots on January 6, 2021. Meta restored Trump's account in 2023.
Zuckerberg is not the only tech CEO to visit Mar-a-Lago after Trump's victory.
Billionaire Elon Musk, who played a key role in Trump's campaign, spent election night with Trump at the resort in Florida and has been spending time there since.
