Apple CEO Steve Jobs, who recently took a medical leave of absence from his company, and Google chief executive Eric Schmidt will be among the attendees of President Obama"s event with business leaders in San Francisco Thursday evening, a source familiar with the event told ABC News.
Yesterday, ABC News reported that 26-year-old founder of Facebook, Mark Zuckerberg, would be attending, according to a source familiar with the meeting.
In December 2010, Obama cited Jobs as an impressive example of the American dream.
"Something that"s always been the greatest strength of America is a thriving, booming middle class, where everybody has got a shot at the American dream. And that should be our goal. That should be what we"re focused on," the President said. "How are we creating opportunity for everybody? So that we celebrate wealth. We celebrate somebody like a Steve Jobs, who has created two or three different revolutionary products. We expect that person to be rich, and that"s a good thing."
Despite taking medical leave in January, Apple’s Chief Executive Steve Jobs is still keeping involved in day-to-day decisions and development on the company’s upcoming products.
Schmidt told a conference on Tuesday that he was "very, very proud" of Google executive Wael Ghonim, who helped organize the Egypt protests that resulted in President Mubarak leaving office.
Google co-founder Larry Page will be replacing Schmidt as CEO in April when he steps down from the position.
“The president and the business leaders will discuss our shared goal of promoting American innovation, and discuss his commitment to new investments in research and development, education and clean energy,” a White House official said.
Jobs, Schmidt and Zuckerberg will be among many business leaders in technology and innovation the president will sit down and talk to, as he continues to sell his State of the Union message.