- Donald Trump has singled out Jeff Bezos for criticism in the past.
- But Bezos says that was the past. He thinks Trump's pitch to cut regulations in the US is a good one, and he wants to help.
- Also on Bezos's agenda: Convincing Trump that the media — including The Washington Post, which he owns — is not the enemy.
Some people are very worried about the coming Trump administration.
Jeff Bezos is not one of them.
Or, more accurately, the world's second-richest man says he's not worried about Trump 2.0, even though Trump has singled him out in the past. And Bezos says he could be a Trump ally because he wants to help the next president cut red tape.
"I'm actually very optimistic this time around," he said at The New York Times's DealBook conference on Wednesday. "I'm very hopeful. He seems to have a lot of energy around reducing regulation. And my point of view [is], if I can help him do that, I'm going to help him. Because we do have too much regulation in this country."
Bezos also took pains to paint Trump as someone who evolved over the past few years.
"What I've seen so far is that he is calmer than he was first time," he told interviewer Andrew Ross Sorkin. "More confident, more settled."
Bezos joins a line of business leaders — including many of his peers in tech — who have gone out of their way to say nice things about Trump in public following his election win. It's a marked contrast from the reception Trump got after his first successful election.
It's possible Bezos really does feel good about Trump's second term. "I've had a lot of success in life not being cynical," he said Wednesday.
On the other hand, Bezos would certainly be happier if he didn't have to spend the next four years worried about problems Trump could pose for many of his interests. That includes Amazon, which he no longer runs day-to-day but still accounts for the overwhelming majority of his net worth; Blue Origin, his rocket company that competes with Trump ally Elon Musk's SpaceX; and The Washington Post.
And Bezos's critics say his decision to have the Post not make a presidential endorsement this year was an attempt to placate Trump. On Wednesday, Bezos insisted that wasn't the case, reiterating the argument he made before the election: Not making an endorsement makes the Post more trustworthy.
But Trump has repeatedly called the media "the enemy." Won't he continue to treat the Post, and its owner, that way once he takes office next year?
"I am going to try to talk him out of that idea," Bezos said. "I don't think he's going to see it the same way, but maybe I'll be wrong."