President Joe Biden warned of an oligarchy that has wide influence over the country as part of his farewell speech Wednesday night. Bernie Sanders and Kevin O'Leary have very different opinions in whether the wealthiest people in America should be celebrated.
What Happened: In his presidential farewell, Biden expressed concerns that an emerging tech oligarchy is forming and will have a wide influence on the future of the country.
"I'm equally concerned about the potential rise of a tech industrial complex that could pose real dangers for our country," Biden said.
Biden also said there is a "dangerous concentration of power in the hands of a very few ultra-wealthy people" during his speech.
"Today, an oligarchy is taking shape in America of extreme wealth, power and influence that literally threatens our entire democracy, our basic rights and freedoms and a fair shot for everyone to get ahead."
The oligarchy comments became a focal point of Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) questioning for Treasury Secretary nominee Scott Bessent during his confirmation hearing.
Sanders said Elon Musk, Jeff Bezos and Mark Zuckerberg, who are believed to be who Biden was referring to, are worth $1 trillion combined, which is more than 170 million people in America. The senator said there is also more concentration of wealth in the media in recent years with billionaires owning media and the information that American people receive.
"When you have a small number of multi-billionaires who have enormous economic, media and political power, would you agree with President Biden?" Sanders asked Bessent while adding the oligarchy quote.
Sanders said he agreed with the statement before Bessent answered.
Bessent replied that all three billionaires named made their money themselves, including Musk who came to the country as an immigrant.
Sanders pushed back saying that Musk will soon be part of the Trump administration and the billionaires are spending large amounts of money to get candidates elected. Sanders asked Bessent again if there was an oligarchy.
Bessent said Biden recently gave the Presidential Medal of Freedom to people who would qualify as oligarchs, a reference to George Soros.
Musk later shared a clip of the exchange between Sanders and Bessent and said it was a "sick burn by Bessent" in reference to his comment about Biden giving out medals.
Investor Kevin O'Leary, known for his role on "Shark Tank," had a differing opinion during a discussion on the oligarchy topic on CNN.
"We celebrate the American dream in this country. It's our number one export. Zuck was a college student once. Look what he's created. Elon Musk may be the most successful entrepreneur in history," O'Leary said.
O'Leary said Americans appreciate the ability to pursue the American dream of becoming wealthy.
"We should be celebrating this. Yes, Musk is rich, so what."
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Why It's Important: Musk, Bezos and Zuckerberg are all expected to be present at Trump's inauguration on Monday. All three have donated to Trump via his election campaign or inauguration fund by themselves or through the companies they founded.
Some of the billionaires now supporting Trump, have reversed course. Zuckerberg previously banned Trump from Facebook and Instagram, which are owned by Meta Platforms Inc META.
Meta recently announced changes to its content moderation policies, which come as Zuckerberg met with Trump at Mar-a-Lago and has shown more support for the incoming president. This comes after Trump once threatened to put Zuckerberg in jail if he was elected president.
Tech billionaires could be showing loyalty to Trump to push the sector forward, Deepwater Asset Management managing partner Gene Munster told Yahoo Finance.
"No. 1 is that tech companies have understood over the past five years that Washington is a bigger X factor in their future, and so there's just a natural willingness to work more closely with the administration," Munster said. "The second is Trump values loyalty, and one way that people kind of express loyalty to him is to give money."
Munster said to be taken serious by Trump, it might be similar to "pay to play."
Billionaire Mark Cuban shared a similar thought earlier this month in a post on BlueSky.
"Why are Bezos, Zuckerberg, Musk, Pichai and Tim Cook visiting and giving money to Trump? Because they are in ‘The Race' to become the dominant platform in the world," Cuban wrote.
Cuban said the billionaires "don't care about Trump,” but can't afford to be pushed back.
"Giving millions and kissing a ring when trillions are at stake, is nothing. The Ring Kissers truly don't know where AI will take their businesses or the world."
Cuban, who supported Vice President Kamala Harris in the 2024 election, placed some of the blame on President Biden in his post.
"He refused to engage with the biggest tech players. He ignored them. With so much at stake, that was one of the all-time blunders. It pushed them all into the arms of Trump."
A Bloomberg report also showed the richest people in the world gained huge amounts of wealth during Biden's time in the White House, stating that the top 0.1% gained $6 trillion in wealth.
The report highlighted that Musk was worth around $100 billion on Election Day 2020, which Biden won. Today, Musk is worth $450 billion. While the billionaire hit $400 billion for the first time after Trump won the 2024 election, the majority of his wealth gains came before Trump won.
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Photos: Musk, Zuckerberg via Shutterstock; Bezos courtesy Amazon
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