Amazon, Uber Among New Corporate Donors to Biden Inauguration

Amazon.com Inc.,United Airlines andUber Technologies are among companies that made new contributions to President-elect Joe Biden’s inaugural ceremonies, according to a new disclosure posted by the Biden Presidential Inaugural Committee.

The inaugural committeedisclosed the names of 3,184 additional donors on Friday night, after making its first disclosure of 959 donors last Saturday. The list includes individuals, companies, unions and political action committees that contributed through Jan. 10. All gave at least $200, but individual amounts were not disclosed.

Other companies on the updated list areUnited Parcel Service Inc. andYelp Inc.

The committee isn’t required to disclose the full list with amounts to theFederal Election Commission until 90 days after the inauguration, but said it was making voluntary disclosures in the interest of transparency.

Other companies previously disclosed includeAlphabet Inc.’s Google,Microsoft Corp.Qualcomm Inc.,Comcast Corp.,Charter Communications Inc.,Boeing Co.,Anthem Inc. andVerizon Communications Inc.

Donors came from all 50 states and the District of Columbia, with 19% coming from California.

Taxpayers pay for the inauguration ceremony itself, but newly-elected presidents raise their own funds to pay for related celebrations that usually include a parade and inaugural balls. Donations to Biden’s committee will go toward dramatically scaled-down ceremonies that have mostly moved to virtual, made-for-television events because of the Covid-19 pandemic and security concerns following the violent riots at the Capitol last week.

Biden and Vice President-elect Kamala Harris — as well as District of Columbia officials — have asked Americans to stay home on Inauguration Day on Wednesday, and mark the event from there.

TheNational Park Service said Monday that the National Mall, which usually holds the throngs of Americans witnessing an inaugural, will be closed. The Virginia Department of Transportation said several bridges and roads linking that state to Washington would be closed from 6 a.m. Tuesday to 6 a.m. Thursday.

— With assistance by Bill Allison, and Jennifer Epstein

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