Biggest Inauguration Donor Was a Poultry Company

President Trump not only won the 2024 election, the campaign to raise cash for his inauguration also hit the jackpot. As NBC News reports, Trump's inaugural committee raised a staggering $239 million, smashing the previous record—also held by Trump from his first inauguration—of about $107 million. Bloomberg notes that the 2025 haul is more than the combined $157 million that former Presidents Obama and Biden raised for three inaugurations. A look at who opened up their wallets:

• Pilgrim's Pride Corp.: The poultry producer gave more than any other donor, tapping out at $5 million.
• Ripple Labs: The crypto/blockchain company just missed being the top dog, with a $4.9 million contribution.

• Tech titans: Meta and Apple chipped in $1 million each, earning Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg and Apple CEO Tim Cook a seat at the event. Also count Google, Nvidia, Adobe, Comcast, and OpenAI CEO Sam Altman in the $1 million pile.
• Amazon: Jeff Bezos also gave $1 million, and also attended the event.
• Big Pharma: Trade group PhRMA gave $1 million, as did Bayer, Merck, and Pfizer, per the Wall Street Journal.
• Energy companies: The likes of Chevron ($2 million), and ConocoPhillips, ExxonMobil, and Occidental Petroleum Corp. (all $1 million) ponied up.
• More in the $1 million club: JPMorgan Chase, Anheuser-Busch, Blackstone, General Motors, Uber, Boeing, Toyota, McDonald's, Delta Air Lines, Johnson & Johnson, and Miriam Adelson.
• Future potential ambassadors: Warren Stephens (nominee to be ambassador to the UK) gave $4 million; Melissa Argyros (nominee for Latvia) gave $2 million; Tilman Fertitta (nominee for Italy) gave $1 million.
• Live Nation: The concert behemoth gave $500,000.

(More Trump inauguration stories.)