Dive Brief:
- Apple CEO Tim Cook responded this week to employee questions about why he met with President-elect Donald Trump as part of a technology roundtable.
- In his comments, which were posted on Apple’s internal employee info service Tuesday, Cook said he believes it was important for him to show up. "Personally, I’ve never found being on the sideline a successful place to be," he wrote. "The way that you influence these issues is to be in the arena."
- Meanwhile, George A. Polisner, head of Governance and Service Delivery at Oracle, submitted a public resignation to Oracle co-CEO Safra Catz on LinkedIn Tuesday, saying he does not stand with her in support of Trump. Catz joined the Trump transition team last week.
Dive Insight:
Not everyone supports their CEO’s decisions to work with the incoming administration, but this is becoming a more public issue following Trump’s tech summit last week, which was attended by executives from several top technology companies.
It is in both Silicon Valley's and Trump's best interest to work together, or else the integrity of the U.S. tech economy could be threatened. But a growing number of employees are expressing their unhappiness with the process, and it is likely more protests could occur.
Earlier this week, The Intercept reported that IBM employees started a petition protesting CEO Ginni Rometty’s potential alliance with Trump, complaining that through Rometty, they are being aligned with someone that’s suggested the creation of a national Muslim registry.
