Google Donates $1 Million To Trump Inauguration, Plans YouTube Livestream: 'Pleased To Support'

Alphabet Inc GOOGGOOGL owned search giant Google is the latest tech company to donate to Donald Trump's inauguration fund ahead of the highly anticipated Jan. 20 event.

What Happened: Google announced a $1 million donation to Trump's inauguration, joining the ranks of Meta Platforms, Amazon.com, Ford Motor Company and more.

Several tech billionaires including Apple CEO Tim Cook and OpenAI CEO Sam Altman have also announced $1 million donations on their own and not directly from their associated companies.

The donation by Google made on Monday was confirmed by Politico on Thursday and comes as Alphabet CEO Sundar Pichai was among the tech moguls who met with Trump at Mar-A-Lago since his 2024 presidential election win.

"Google is pleased to support the 2025 inauguration, with a livestream on YouTube and a direct link on our homepage. We're also donating to the inaugural committee," Google's global head of government affairs and public policy Karen Bhatia told Politico.

Google previously donated $285,000 to the 2016 and 2020 inaugurations, a spokesperson told Politico. Google also previously promoted the inauguration on its homepage and YouTube.

Why It's Important: The donation from Google comes as the company has been targeted by the Department of Justice for alleged monopolistic behavior and could be forced to break up and spinoff assets like the Chrome browser.

While there's no certainty that a donation or a visit to Mar-A-Lago will sway the new administration or prevent such outcomes, changes to the DOJ’s leadership could potentially shift the company’s legal challenges.

Incoming Vice President J.D. Vance also previously said he wants to break up Google, which could make the company a target of the new administration.

Senator Ted Cruz (R-Texas) recently told Politico that Republicans would target Google's content moderation policies on the search engine and on YouTube.

GOOG Price Action: Alphabet stock closed at $195.39 Wednesday versus a 52-week trading range of $131.55 to $202.88. Alphabet stock is up 37% over the last year.

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