Who made it into the Capitol Rotunda? Big Tech CEOs got second-row seating

President-elect Donald Trump’s inauguration ceremony inside the Capitol Rotunda has a limited capacity of about 600 people, making the seats inside the nation’s Capitol the most sought-after seats in Washington.

The precious spots are usually reserved for Supreme Court justices, military leaders, former presidents and their spouses, Cabinet nominees and visiting foreign leaders. Presidents also tend to invite special guests.

This year, the guest list included the some of the nation’s most powerful tech leaders, including Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos, Google’s chief executive Sundar Pichai and Tesla CEO and DOGE co-chair Elon Musk, all of whom are sitting together in the second row behind the soon-to-be First Family.

Mark Zuckerberg, chief executive officer of Meta Platforms Inc., from left, Jeff Bezos, founder of Amazon.com Inc., Sundar Pichai, chief executive officer of Alphabet Inc., and Elon Musk, chief executive officer of Tesla Inc., during the 60th presidential inauguration in the rotunda of the US Capitol in Washington, DC, US, on Monday, Jan. 20, 2025. Photographer: Julia Demaree Nikhinson/AP Photo/Bloomberg via Getty Images

TikTok CEO Shou Zi Chew, who on Friday thanked Trump for supporting the company’s efforts to remain available to U.S. users, also attended the event but was not sited next to the other technology leaders.

TikTok CEO Shou Chew attends the inauguration ceremony before Donald Trump is sworn in as the 47th US President in the US Capitol Rotunda in Washington, DC, on January 20, 2025. (Photo by Kevin Lamarque / POOL / AFP) (Photo by KEVIN LAMARQUE/POOL/AFP via Getty Images)

China’s vice president, Han Zheng, and Argentinian President Javier Millei, who was the first foreign leader to meet with Trump following his election, was also seen in attendance inside the Rotunda.

Han Zheng, China’s vice president, left, during the 60th presidential inauguration in the rotunda of the US Capitol in Washington, DC, US, on Monday, Jan. 20, 2025. Photographer: Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images/Bloomberg via Getty Images