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Amazon founder Jeff Bezos said on Wednesday at the NYTimes DealBook Summit that he's "actually very optimistic this time around" about President-elect Donald Trump's upcoming second term in office.
"He [Trump] seems to have a lot of energy around reducing regulation," Bezos said, adding, "If I can help him do that, I'm going to help him."
Last month, Trump announced he is creating the Department for Government Efficiency, which will be geared towards cutting government spending, reducing excess regulations, and downsizing bureaucracy. He named Elon Musk and Vivek Ramaswamy the department's co-leads.
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Bezos said at the DealBook Summit that when it comes to Trump, what he's seen is that the President-elect is "calmer than he was the first time and more confident, more settled."
Jeff Bezos. Photo Credit: Eugene Gologursky/Getty Images for The New York Times
Bezos, who owns the Washington Post, also stood by the Post's choice not to endorse a presidential candidate this year. Even though more than 200,000 Washington Post subscribers canceled their subscriptions following the paper's lack of endorsement for Trump or Kamala Harris, Bezos stuck by his decision.
"We just decided that it wasn't going to help … it wasn't going to influence the election either way," he stated at the DealBook Summit. An endorsement would have created a sense of bias and added to the loss of trust that the Post faces from readers, he added.
"We made the right decision," he said. "I'm very proud of that decision."
