Technology — Tech, crypto firms among Trump ballroom donors

View Online Technology Technology The Big Story  Tech, crypto firms among Trump ballroom donors Amazon, Apple, Google and other major companies are among those donating to help cover the cost of President Trump's massive new ballroom at the White House. © Jacquelyn Martin, Associated Press The White House confirmed the list to The Hill's Brett Samuels amid demolition of the East Wing to make room for the ballroom. The demolition has sparked controversy and pushback from historians and preservation groups.   Trump told reporters Wednesday the project would cost $300 million, up from the initial $200 million estimate the White House shared in July.    "Over the years many presidents have made changes. This obviously would be the biggest change. But this is something they've wanted for at least 150 years," Trump said.   Donors include major companies, as well as wealthy individuals like Blackstone CEO Stephen Schwarzman and construction executive Paolo Tiramani. Trump hosted many of them for a dinner at the White House last week.   The tech firms who donated inclue Amazon, Apple, Google, HP, Meta, Micron Technology, Microsoft and Palantir.   They are joined by crypto firms Coinbase, Ripple and Tether America, as well as crypto billionaires Cameron and Tyler Winklevoss.   Other prominent donors include Booz Allen Hamilton, Comcast Corporation, Lockheed Martin, T-Mobile, Union Pacific Railroad and the Lutnick family. Welcome to The Hill's Technology newsletter, I'm Julia Shapero — tracking the latest moves from Capitol Hill to Silicon Valley. Did someone forward you this newsletter? Subscribe here. Essential Reads  How policy will be impacting the tech sector now and in the future: Tesla's profit fell in third quarter even as sales rose. Musk sees robotaxi expansion by year end NEW YORK (AP) — Tesla reported a fourth straight decline in quarterly profit even as sales rose, triggering a drop in its shares in after-hours trading. The car company run by Elon Musk reported third-quarter earnings plunged 37% to $1.4 billion, or 39 cents a share, from $2.2 billion, or 62 cents a share, a year earlier. That marked the fourth quarter in a row that profit dropped. And even the revenue rise, a welcome relief …  Full Story Meta to lay off roughly 600 employees within AI unit Meta, the parent company of Facebook, has announced plans to lay off around 600 employees within its artificial intelligence (AI) unit. The layoffs, as first reported by Axios, will remove the roughly 600 roles from within Meta’s Superintelligence Labs division. Meta’s chief AI officer, Alexandr Wang, rationalized the layoffs in an internal memo, stating: "By reducing the size of our team, fewer conversations will …  Full Story Trump calls off plans to deploy federal troops to San Francisco President Trump said Thursday he would not deploy federal troops to San Francisco, reversing course on plans to implement anticrime and immigration enforcement in the Bay Area. Trump in a post on Truth Social said friends of his called him to ask him not to go forward with the surge after arguing the city's Democratic Mayor Daniel Lurie "was making substantial progress."  The president said Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang and Salesforce …  Full Story The Refresh  News we've flagged from the intersection of tech and other topics: Apple loses landmark U.K. lawsuit over app store commissions (Reuters) OpenAI buys AI startup that built interface for Apple computers (CNBC) Crypto Corner  Trump pardons Binance founder © AP Photo/Matt Slocum President Trump has pardoned Changpeng Zhao, the founder of cryptocurrency exchange Binance, the White House said Thursday.    Zhao, who previously served as CEO of Binance, pleaded guilty to charges in 2023 for violating anti-money laundering laws. He was sentenced to four months in prison.    "President Trump exercised his constitutional authority by issuing a pardon for Mr. Zhao, who was prosecuted by the Biden Administration in their war on cryptocurrency," White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt said in a statement.     "In their desire to punish the cryptocurrency industry, the Biden Administration pursued Mr. Zhao despite no allegations of fraud or identifiable victims," she continued.   "The Biden Administration sought to imprison Mr. Zhao for three years, a sentence so outside Sentencing Guidelines that the even the Judge said he had never heard of this in his 30-year career."    "These actions by the Biden Administration severely damaged the United States' reputation as a global leader in technology and innovation," Leavitt added. "The Biden Administration's war on crypto is over."    Zhao stepped down as CEO of Binance following his guilty plea. The exchange also paid more than $4 billion to settle the case with the Justice Department. He served out his prison sentence and was released from U.S. custody last September.    The Binance founder has reportedly been pressing the White House for a pardon in recent months, as the crypto industry has found a key ally in Trump and his administration.    The crypto exchange has also engaged with the president's crypto venture, World Liberty Financial. In May, the Emirati firm MGX invested $2 billion in Binance using World Liberty Financial's stablecoins.    Check out the full report at TheHill.com. Crypto Corner is a daily feature focused on digital currency and its outlook in Washington. Op-eds in The Hill Opinions related to tech submitted to The Hill: China's robot revolution foreshadows its looming population collapse The AWS outage exposed the cloud's flaws: Here's how to protect it   You're all caught up. See you tomorrow!  Check out The Hill's Technology page for the latest coverage. Like this newsletter? Take a moment to view our other topical products here 📩 Privacy Policy  |  Manage Subscriptions  |  Unsubscribe  400 N Capitol Street NW Suite 650, Washington, DC 20001 Copyright © 1998 - 2025 Nexstar Media Inc. | All Rights Reserved.

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