US: Top tech leaders to meet Trump

Many of the most prominent executives from Silicon Valley are expected to attend a meeting with President-elect Donald Trump this week that will help steer the complicated relationship between the incoming White House and some of the nation’s most valuable companies.

Expected attendees for the Wednesday summit include Apple Chief Executive Tim Cook, Facebook Chief Operating Officer Sheryl Sandberg, Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella, Amazon.com CEO Jeff Bezos, Tesla Motors CEO Elon Musk, and both the CEO and chairman of Google parent Alphabet,Larry Page and Eric Schmidt, people familiar with the plans said. The CEOs of Intel, International Business Machines, Oracle and Cisco Systems also are expected to attend, the people said.

The meeting’s agenda hasn’t been made public. Tech companies are concerned about Trump plans for immigration policy, antitrust enforcement and government demands for user data the companies have.

Mr. Trump, meanwhile, has emphasized the importance of boosting US jobs, a subject that could put tech firms on the defensive. Apple, Alphabet, Microsoft, Amazon and Facebook are five of the seven most valuable companies in the US, yet they generally employ fewer people than big firms in other industries. The five together employ about 600,000 people, many of whom work abroad. Wal-Mart Stores, meanwhile, employs 1.5 million in the US. The tech industry’s heavy reliance on software limits the need for as many employees as other industries to manufacture, sell and distribute products and services.

Full Content: The Wall Street Journal

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