Trump, Xi and the Tech Moguls

ImageAndrew here.We’ve got a full rundown of the state dinner for Xi Jinping, China’s leader, and the C.E.O.s who made the pilgrimage to the White House.

Many told me that they considered going an honor and liked the access, but some described it as a chore, given the frequent command-performance requests by the White House.Some worried that they might get even more invitations to be in Washington in the next two years if the House flips — to testify before Congress.Two guests not necessarily among the usual suspects: Bernard Arnault and his son Alexandre of LVMH, representing a non-U.S.

company (they were also at President Trump’s inauguration), and Jeff Yass, the billionaire financier and investor in ByteDance.A few executives’ spouses were invited, while most were not, prompting a lot of tea leaf reading.In other news: MGM Resorts, we hear, is now considering buying People Inc., controlled by Barry Diller, after People dropped its bid to buy the roughly 73 percent of the casino operator that it doesn’t already own.

(The Wall Street Journal first reported the deliberations.) MGM’s board has already authorized an active share repurchase program and isn’t thrilled with having a shareholder with such power.We’ll see if and what kind of premium MGM offers People.What wasn’t said at the dinnerThere they were, dining on sesame-crusted sea bass and braised bok choy: leaders of U.S.

technology giants who had gathered at the White House state dinner for Xi Jinping, China’s leader.Those assembled, including Sam Altman, Jensen Huang, Elon Musk and Jeff Bezos, had a combined estimated net worth well over $2 trillion and projected American dominance in artificial intelligence....