Jeff Bezos, founder and CEO of Amazon, speaks to a group of Amazon employees that are veterans during an Amazon Veterans Day celebration on Monday, November 12, 2018 | Leonard Ortiz | Digital First Media | Getty Images
Tech CEOs and Silicon Valley luminaries congratulated President-elect Joe Biden and Vice President-elect Kamala Harris after their victory in the U.S. presidential election Saturday.
Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos celebrated Biden and Harris’ win in an Instagram post. Bezos said their victory signifies that “unity, empathy and decency are not characteristics of a bygone era.”
Bezos has had a rocky relationship with President Donald Trump throughout his presidency. Trump has repeatedly taken aim at Bezos over his ownership of The Washington Post, Amazon’s tax record and its relationship with the Postal Service.
Microsoft founder Bill Gates, who has been a vocal critic of Trump’s coronavirus response, said he looked forward to “working with the new administration and leaders on both sides in Congress on getting the surging pandemic under control.”
Microsoft President Brad Smith penned a blog post congratulating Biden and Harris, while calling for unity across the country. “If we are to move forward as a nation, we must build new bridges to close the gaps that divide us,” Smith said.
Facebook COO Sheryl Sandberg and Priscilla Chan, wife of Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg and cofounder of the Chan Zuckerberg Initiative, both congratulated Harris on her historic victory, which makes her the first Black woman and first person of South Asian American descent to be elected vice president.
“After a few long days, we now know that Joe Biden will be our next president – and for the first time in 231 years, our next vice president will be a Black and South Asian American woman who is the daughter of immigrants,” Sandberg wrote in a Facebook post. “There are times when America takes a big step toward creating a government that reflects the diverse country we are. Today is one of those days.”
Laurene Powell Jobs, founder of Emerson Collective and widow of Apple founder Steve Jobs, also celebrated Biden and Harris’ win in a tweet, noting that the vice president-elect’s victory represents a “glass ceiling shattered once and for all.”
Cisco CEO Chuck Robbins wrote in a tweet that the company aligns with Biden and Harris’ “belief that we must build a more inclusive future for all.”
Box CEO Aaron Levie celebrated Biden and Harris’ victory in a series of tweets. Levie added that their victory will be “great for American competitiveness.”
“While there’s nothing magical Biden can do, that’s the point,” Levie said. “Businesses need market stability, global trade relations that don’t change on a whim, talent from everywhere, long-range planning and a lack of constant distractions.”
Steve Case, Revolution CEO and AOL co-founder, said he was “delighted” that Biden was elected to become the 46th president of the U.S.
