The presidential election that’s caused so much anxiety and vitriol is finally here. When the dust settles, hopefully sooner than later, more than $14 billion will have been spent across U.S. presidential and congressional campaigns during this election cycle, according to the nonpartisan Center for Responsive Politics.
The beneficiaries of that spending — nearly double the amount spent in the 2016 election — is almost split between presidential and congressional candidates. Those vying for president are expected to spend a total of $6.6 billion.
It’s a lot of dough, no matter how you slice it. But who’s ponying up all this cash, how much are tech companies contributing, and what candidates or political parties are they trying to push over the top?
SDxCentral looked at the 15 most valuable companies we cover to determine where these businesses are directing their deep pockets for political gains. Many of these companies also make significant political donations through separate lobbying groups, political action committees (PACs), and their respective executives on an individual basis.
For the purposes of this look back on the 2020 election cycle, we’re focusing exclusively on donations made by each of these 15 businesses and the top beneficiaries of those donations. These figures include the total amount of contributions made by the companies’ PACs, members of the PAC, employees, or their immediate family members, according to OpenSecrets, a site that tracks money in politics.
This group of 15 companies has a combined market cap of $6.03 trillion. The total amount spent on this election cycle at large, $14 billion, equals just 0.23% of the combined market cap of these tech juggernauts. Almost 69% of that total value on the stock market, $4.16 trillion, is held by Microsoft, Amazon, and Google.
Microsoft, Amazon, Google Contribute $47.1MMicrosoft, with a current market cap of $1.54 trillion, has contributed $17 million during this election cycle, with $2.4 million donated to the Democratic Party’s Senate Majority PAC and almost $2 million to Democratic presidential candidate Joe Biden. Microsoft ranks as the 23rd largest political campaign contributor during this election cycle.
Amazon, with a market cap of $1.5 trillion, donated nearly $8.9 million, including almost $1.74 million to Biden and $803,000 to former presidential candidate Bernie Sanders. Amazon ranks as the 43rd largest contributor during this cycle.
Google’s parent company Alphabet, with a market cap of $1.12 trillion, contributed almost $21.2 million, including almost $3.7 million to Biden and $2.5 million to Future Forward USA. Google was the 14th largest contributor during the 2020 election cycle.
AT&T, Verizon, Intel, Nvidia Near $18MNvidia, which enjoys a market cap of $314.5 billion, donated $849,281, including $191,602 to Biden and $74,145 to the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee.
Verizon, with a market cap of $238.3 billion, contributed nearly $3.9 million, including $535,222 to Biden and $159,314 to the Democratic National Committee.
AT&T, which enjoys a market cap of $194.6 billion, donated almost $10.4 million, including $1 million to One Vote at a Time, a PAC composed of female filmmakers dedicated to the eradication of gun violence, and $995,767 to Biden.
Intel, with a market cap of $182.8 billion, contributed $2.8 million, including $423,175 to Biden and $153,826 to Sanders.
Oracle, Cisco, Broadcom, Qualcomm Hit $8.3MOracle, which enjoys a market cap of $171.4 billion, donated almost $3.5 million, including $518,375 to Biden and $250,000 to Security is Strength, a PAC aligned with Republican Sen. Lindsey Graham of South Carolina.
Cisco, with a market cap of $152.6 billion, contributed almost $2.4 million, including $427,158 to Biden and $140,103 to Sanders.
Broadcom, which enjoys a market cap of $142.7 billion, donated nearly $1.3 million, including $2016,149 to Biden and $70,588 to the Democratic National Committee.
Qualcomm, with a market cap of $140.9 billion, contributed $1.1 million, including $110,153 to Biden and $89,524 to the Democratic National Committee.
T-Mobile, IBM, VMware, Dell Near $9.7MT-Mobile US, which enjoys a market cap of $135.7 billion, is majority owned by foreign companies Deutsche Telekom and SoftBank. As such, its political donations are less transparent and largely driven through a PAC, which donated $1.5 million with 53% of those contributions going to Democratic candidates and 47% to Republican candidates.
IBM, with a market cap of $100.8 billion, contributed $5 million, including $640,801 to Biden and $596,040 to the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee.
VMware, which enjoys a market cap of $54.5 billion, donated $178,500 through its PAC with 52% of those donations going to Democratic candidates and 48% to Republicans.
Dell Technologies, with a market cap of $45.6 billion, contributed $3 million, including $472,940 to Biden and $190,396 to the National Republican Senatorial Committee. It’s also worth nothing that Dell owns about 81% of VMware.
Many Tech Companies Play Both SidesThe combined political contributions of these 15 companies totals $83.1 million, almost 0.6% of the total amount spent during the 2020 election cycle.
While Democratic candidates are the top beneficiaries of these donations overall, many of the 15 most valuable companies we cover at SDxCentral are playing the political spending game on both sides. The figures above only include the top two recipients from each respective companies’ political donations.
In some cases, Republican candidates received nearly half of a company’s total donation haul during this election cycle. Other companies donated less than 10% of their total contributions to Republicans.
Tech juggernauts, including their PACs, employees, and immediate family members, usually have clear political preferences as is evidenced by these contributions tracked by OpenSecrets. However, the unfortunate truth about money in politics is that most companies just want to earn support or goodwill from whoever is in political office. The potential impacts of an election outcome on any company is significantly muted when it has reliable, financially supported allies in government.
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