Tim Cook, the CEO of Apple, pays $40K for a dinner with Xi Jinping, while Elon Musk attends a $2K event.

November 20, 2023 91.2K views

Apple CEO Tim Cook reportedly nabbed a $40,000 seat at Chinese President Xi Jinping's table next to Chinese Minister of Commerce Wang Wentao at the dinner event at the Hyatt Regency hotel in San Francisco on Wednesday.

BlackRock's billionaire chief executive Larry Fink (pictured), Blackstone boss Steve Schwarzman and Bridgewater Associates' Ray Dalio.

A photo of the three-course meal that ran deep-pocketed guests as much as $40,000 was posted to X.Salesforce CEO Marc Benioff shared this photo of him and Elon Musk at the VIP reception ahead of the dinner event. "Go San Francisco! Go Apec! Everyone is here!" he captioned the selfie alongside heart and American flag emojis.

Xi was in the US for the two-day Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) summit, during which he met with President Joe Biden to discuss topics reportedly including climate change, counter-narcotics and artificial intelligence.Xi said during his keynote address that he wants a "win-win" relationship with the US.