The 45 Donors Who Gave $1 Million to Trump’s Record-Breaking Inauguration
Policy + Politics

The 45 Donors Who Gave $1 Million to Trump’s Record-Breaking Inauguration

© POOL New / Reuters

While he may not have had record-breaking crowds at his inauguration, President Trump raked in far more cash than any president to spend on the festivities surrounding his swearing in to office. Trump’s inaugural committee collected $106.7 million in donations, eclipsing the previous record of $55 million set by Barack Obama for his first inauguration.

Plenty of everyday Trump supporters sent in sums of $50 or $100 to fund the celebrations, according to a 510-page filing by the inaugural committee. Nearly half of the total came from donations of $1 million or more from major corporations or individual billionaires.

The committee didn’t disclose how much of the money was spent on the inauguration and how much was left over. It doesn’t have to publicly state how the money was spent. Officials of the inaugural committee reportedly said that leftover funds will go to charities, although none were specified. Obama used leftover money to pay for the White House Easter egg roll and other events during his first term.

Related: How Much Will Trump’s Inauguration Cost? A Look at the Last 5 Presidents

The largest donation to Trump’s inauguration came from Sheldon Adelson, the founder, chairman and CEO of Las Vegas Sands Corp., who gave $5 million.

AT&T was the second-largest donor to the inaugural committee, pitching in a curious amount: $2,082,483.43. At the time, the telecommunications company was in the middle of an $85.4 billion acquisition of Time Warner Inc. and was awaiting to find out whether the deal would require review by the Federal Communications Commission. In February, the FCC said it didn’t expect to review the transaction.

Plenty of individuals and companies donated $100,000 or more to the inauguration committee. Oil companies Citgo Petroleum Corp., Exxon, BP and Chevron all contributed at least a half-million dollars. Avenue Ventures, an asset management company, put up $900,000, while Quicken Loans donated $750,000. Tech giants Intel, Microsoft and Google all made sizeable contributions of a half-million or more as well.

Related: Trump’s Wall, By One Estimate, Could Cost $70 Billion

But the biggest donors after Adelson and AT&T were the 45 individuals and companies that donated $1 million to Trump’s inauguration. Here they are:

Robert Parsons
Founder of GoDaddy

JWC III Revocable Trust
Trust of Joseph W. Craft III, president and CEO of Alliance Resource Partners, the third-largest coal producer in the eastern U.S.

Howard Lutnick
CEO of Cantor Fitzgerald

Shahid Kahn
A Pakistani-American billionaire who owns the Jacksonville Jaguars, English football club Fulham F.C. and automobile parts manufacturer Flex-N-Gate.

Christopher Cline
Majority owner of privately held Foresight Reserves LP, a developer and operator of coal mines

Charles Schwab
Founder of the Charles Schwab Corporation

BH Group LLC*

Bank of America

Alexander Shustorovich
President and CEO of IMG Artists LLC

Steven Cohen
Investor and hedge fund manager who founded Point72 Asset Management and S.A.C. Capital Advisors

Robert McNair
Owner of the Houston Texans

Scott Bessent
Chief investment officer of Soros Fund Management

RAI Services
A subsidiary of tobacco company Reynolds American Inc.

Kraft

Boeing

Pfizer

Allied Wallet
Provider of e-commerce merchant services and online payment processing service

Access Industries
A privately held industrial group with long-term holdings worldwide

J. Clifford Forrest
Founder and president of Rosebud Mining Company. Also the owner of Freedom Industries Inc. that leaked 7,500 gallons of goal-producing substance into the Elk River in 2014.

Stanley Kroenke
Owner of Kroenke Sports & Entertainment, which includes the NBA’s Denver Nuggets, the NFL’s Los Angeles Rams, the NHL’s Colorado Avalanche, MLS’s Colorado Rapids, the Colorado Mammoth of the National Lacrosse League. He is the largest shareholder of English football club Arsenal.

John Hess
CEO of energy company Hess Corporation

Green Plains Inc.
An ethanol producer based in Omaha, Nebraska

Qualcomm

Robert Mercer
Co-CEO of Renaissance Technologies, an investment management firm

Robert W. Johnson IV
Owner of the NFL’s New York Jets 

Daniel M. Snyder
Majority owner of the Washington Redskins American football team, founder of Snyder Communications and primary investor in Red Zebra Broadcasting

Ronnie Ory
Chairman, president and CEO of Cyprexx Services, a field service company

Hushang Ansary
An Iranian-American diplomat, businessman, and philanthropist.

Kumar Family Limited
Owner is Shalabh Kumar, a Chicago-based Indian-American industrialist

Marlene Ricketts
Wife of billionaire T.D. Ameritrade founder J. Joe Ricketts,

Andrew Beal
American poker player and businessman who founded Beal Bank and Beal Aerospace

Jeanne Sorenson Siegel
Wife of television media mogul Herbert Siegel

Glenstone Limited Partnership
Its sole director is Dallas Cowboys owner Jerry Jones

HFNWA LLC
Company linked to Franklin Haney, who founded a family-owned and managed with national investments in real estate and property development.

LMC IP
Otherwise known as Lockheed Martin

Dow Chemical

American Action Network
A nonprofit issue advocacy group based in Washington, D.C. which promotes center-right public policy

Papa Doug Trust
Papa Doug is chairman of Manchester Financial Group

MacNeil Automotive Products Limited
Does business as WeatherTech

Madison Square Garden Company

Henry Kravis
Co-founder of private equity firm Kohlberg Kravis Roberts & Co.

Paul Elliott Singer
Founder of hedge fund Elliott Management Corp.

Bradley Wayne Hughes Jr.
Founder and chairman of Public Storage, the largest self-storage company in America doing business as a REIT

Philip Ruffin
An American businessman with interests in casinos, greyhound racing tracks, oil, convenience stores and real estate

Claudine Revere
Partner of Anthony Pratt who owns paper, packaging and recycling business Visy Industries

*Correction: The Fiscal Times has been unable to determine the identity of BH Group LLC, which is listed on page 86 of the inaugural committee form. There are several companies doing business with that and similar names. The company, which provided an address of 1655 Fort Myer Drive, Arlington VA, reported a donation of $1 million on Dec. 22, 2016.

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