Dara Khosrowshahi, chief executive officer of Uber Technologies Inc., poses for a photograph following an interview on the opening day of the World Economic Forum (WEF) in Davos, Switzerland, on Tuesday, Jan. 23, 2018. World leaders, influential executives, bankers and policy makers attend the 48th annual meeting of the World Economic Forum in Davos from Jan. 23 - 26. Photographer: Simon Dawson/Bloomberg
Google’s top executive said the search giant would welcome higher taxes. Uber Technologies Inc’s new CEO said it must be more accommodating with regulators. Salesforce.com Inc’s veteran leader Marc Benioff said Silicon Valley has been arrogant and compared Facebook to the tobacco industry.
At the World Economic Forum in Davos this week, executives struck a conciliatory note in an acknowledgement of a new reality for the world’s largest technology companies. Unlike previous years at the gathering in Switzerland of the global elite, the companies are no longer seen primarily as positive engines of economic growth. Governments, business leaders and the general public are coming to view Silicon Valley’s power and influence with caution and suspicion.
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