<p class="ingestion featured-caption">The business world was divided in the run-up to the election.Anna Moneymaker/Getty Images</p><ul class="summary-list"><li>Business leaders have been reacting to Donald Trump's presidential election victory.</li><li>Silicon Valley was politically divided in the run-up to the election.</li></ul><p>Top business leaders, investors, and philanthropists have been reacting to Donald Trump's victory in the presidential election.</p><p><a target="_blank" rel=" nofollow" class href="https://x.com/FoxNews/status/1854053633198825482"><u>Fox News</u></a> called the race early Wednesday morning. A little under four hours later, projections from <a target="_blank" rel=" nofollow" class href="https://x.com/CNN/status/1854109735076676021"><u>CNN</u></a> and other news organizations put Trump over the 270 Electoral College votes needed to win the presidency.</p><p>Throughout the campaign, Silicon Valley <a target="_blank" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/silicon-valley-political-divide-twitter-elon-musk-kamala-harris-2024-8">has been divided</a> on which candidate to back.</p><p>Although Silicon Valley has historically leaned left, some of tech's biggest names, including Tesla CEO <a target="_blank" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/elon-musk">Elon Musk</a> and venture capitalist <a target="_blank" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/linkedin-cofounder-reid-hoffman-david-sacks-wrong-about-trump-2024-6">David Sacks, tilted right this election season</a>.</p><p>Still, <a target="_blank" href="https://www.vcsforkamala.org/signatories">875 venture capitalists</a> pledged to vote and donate to Harris through an effort called VCsForKamala. A Business Insider <a target="_blank" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/venture-capital-us-election-data-contributions-2024-10">analysis</a> of publicly available FEC data revealed that VCs favored Democrats overall.</p><p>Some CEOs and executives have said Trump will better protect their business interests. Trump is expected to cut the corporate tax rate, extend tax cuts from his first term — the largest of which centered on businesses and wealthy Americans — ease some regulations, and increase tariffs.</p><p>Labor experts believe Trump may <a target="_blank" class href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/business/2024/11/03/trump-labor-union-election/">reverse policies</a> making joining unions easier and could loosen workplace safety rules.</p><p>Others, though, are nervous that Trump's economic plans could be inflationary. Prices are up over 20% over President Joe Biden's first 45 months, which the administration has attributed to the pandemic and Russia's invasion of Ukraine.</p><p>Economists at think tanks across the political spectrum have written that <a target="_blank" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/trump-harris-immigration-jobs-arizona-economy-mass-deportation-employment-wages-2024-10">mass deportations</a> and tariffs — which could be between 10% to 20% on most foreign goods — could spike inflation or hurt GDP.</p><p>Here is what some of the wealthiest and most influential business figures have to say about the election outcome.</p>