'Which time were you lying?': The great CEO flip-flop over Donald Trump hits Davos

It felt as if the chill had lifted over the Swiss Alps, where CEOs flock each January to mingle and be rich and think deep thoughts.

The elites who gather in Davos, the resort town synonymous with wealth and power, breathed a collective sigh of relief: Finally, we’re done with Donald J Trump.

Yes, well. Four years later, the private jets are returning to Davos, and Trump is returning to the White House.

Davos Man, the loaded term for affluent attendees of the World Economic Forum, loves big ideas. And this year, there’s a new one: embrace Trump, and fast, with head-snapping zeal.

Why? Business.

“I’m reminded of what happened when Napoleon escaped from Elba,” said Lloyd Blankfein, the former longtime chief of Goldman Sachs Group Inc., likening executives’ realignment to the old story about how French newspapers changed their tune in 1815. They initially characterized Napoleon as a “monster” and an “ogre.” As he neared Paris, the papers announced “His Majesty” was arriving.

“And by the way,” Blankfein said, “Trump might even appreciate the comparison to Napoleon.”

Davos, cathedral of globalism, has been good to its true believers. Since the first gathering in 1971, generations of Davos-goers – heads of state, billionaire hedge-funders, tech moguls and more — have been enriched and empowered by its gospel of globalization. From their perch on Magic Mountain, they’ve fretted about rising inequality over hors d’oeuvres and about carbon emissions from the soft-leather comfort of Learjets.

Now, with the return of Trump, many appear to be willing to do what it takes to protect and advance their interests. If that means abandoning, at least for now, some of the ideas celebrated at Davos, so be it. Making noises about equality, diversity and the fierce urgency of climate change just might have to wait.

“It’s sort of like, ‘OK, which time were you lying?’” Tom Glocer, a fixture on corporate boards like Morgan Stanley and Merck & Co. Inc., said of the abrupt change.

Some CEOs are surely “relieved they no longer have to put on a mask,” said Glocer, a Davos regular and Trump critic. “Their behavior and pronouncements are maybe moving toward their true self.”

After Trump first entered the White House, US executives lined up to congratulate him and curry favor. This time, many aren’t waiting for Inauguration Day: They’re pre-groveling or, like Mark Zuckerberg, perhaps revealing their true selves. Zuckerberg recently added Trump’s friend Dana White, the Ultimate Fighting Championship boss, to the board of his Meta Platforms Inc.

Taking a cue from the once and future president, Zuckerberg bemoaned the lack of “masculine energy” in companies. The 40-year-old first gained notoriety with a program that rated students based on their looks before starting Facebook. He will also throw an inauguration party for Trump alongside GOP megadonor Miriam Adelson.

With Trump’s return, C-suites just about everywhere sense a vibe-shift. “A businessman’s job isn’t to change the world but to cope with it,” said Wilbur Ross, the private equity billionaire who was commerce secretary in the first Trump cabinet. Ross said he encouraged Trump to go to Davos in 2018 to better get to know the business leaders turning up there. The president followed it up with another visit in 2020 that included a showdown with then-teenage climate activist Greta Thunberg. This year, he plans a virtual address.

“Everyone is making big efforts to try and get lined up with Trump,” Ross said.

These new realities are reflected on an international scale at Davos, the hub of corporate buzzwords where phrases like “stakeholder capitalism” and “social inclusion” gained global currency. And where terms like globalization, sustainability and working together are constantly featured. The theme for the Jan. 20-24 conference: “Collaboration for the Intelligent Age.”

Even before Trump raises his right hand, a growing list of US companies, from McDonald’s Corp. to Walmart Inc., have rolled back diversity, equity and inclusion initiatives under pressure from the right. The six largest US banks have all quit the United Nations-sponsored “net zero” alliance that was supposed to help reduce the carbon emissions overheating the planet. On Friday, the Federal Reserve withdrew from a global central bank coalition studying climate risks to the financial system, saying it had strayed too far in its mission.

After his inauguration in 2017, Trump summoned a host of CEOs to the White House, for ostensible policy summits in front of live television feeds. Many of them sneered at him before he made it to the Oval Office. The president asked Jeff Immelt, then head of General Electric Co., to recount to assembled executives the time he, Trump, made a hole-in-one. He muttered “good soup” to Denise Morrison, CEO of Campbell’s Soup Co. And in a sign of the chaos that accompanied Trump 1.0, the CEO of United Technologies, Greg Hayes, was left stranded outside the White House gate in the rain because they’d left his name off the guest list.

These days, a procession of CEOs has already made its way to Mar-a-Lago, Trump’s residence and private club in Palm Beach. Among recent visitors: Microsoft Corp.’s Satya Nadella, Apple Inc.’s Tim Cook and Coca-Cola Co. chief James Quincey.

“They recognize he’s someone who is thin-skinned about criticism and susceptible to flattery,” said Jeff Sonnenfeld, a prominent CEO whisperer at the Yale School of Management, who was in Palm Beach for a gathering of super-wealthy Yale alumni.

Ford Motor Co. and Bank of America Corp., which condemned the assault on the US Capitol by Trump supporters in January 2021, are now among those contributing to Trump’s inauguration, expected to be the costliest in history. Jeff Bezos and Sam Altman are personally donating $1 million or more.

“Trump expects you to throw yourself at his feet and genuflect,” said John Coffee, a securities professor at Columbia Law School.

Vivek Ramaswamy, the anti-“woke” activist, once characterized the World Economic Forum as the “Woke Vatican,” and its founder, Klaus Schwab, as the “Patron Saint of Wokeism.” To Ramaswamy, Davos regulars like Coca-Cola’s Quincey were the “cardinals.”

This month, four years after Coke issued a statement condemning the Capitol assault as “an offense to the ideals of American democracy,” Quincey hand-delivered a special gift to Trump, described as the first ever “Presidential Commemorative Inaugural Diet Coke bottle.”

A Trump representative posted an image capturing the moment: Trump, the 45th and soon-to-be 47th US president, and Quincey, steward of a US corporate symbol that’s known the world over, smiled broadly for the camera.