Silicon Valley Buys DC a Drink at Annual Party Weekend

Silicon Valley companies may not like official Washington sometimes, but they’re increasingly happy to throw it a party. Google, Facebook, Microsoft and a handful of other tech companies are hosting bashes as Washington politicians and journalists party during White House Correspondents’ Association Dinner weekend, an annual schmooze- and selfie-fest that started with a dinner and has grown into a four-day party marathon.

Nine parties are planned, including an event at the Institute for Peace co-sponsored by Google and Netflix which will include actors from Netflix’s “House of Cards.” Across town, Microsoft and AOL are helping sponsor a “New Media Party” that will feature craft cocktails, “spheres over the dance floor enabling guests to download music” and miniature talking robots.

For firms like Google and Facebook, the parties represent a chance to gin up some goodwill among lawmakers, administration officials and journalists. Other tech companies, such as BuzzFeed and Yahoo, are using the weekend to draw attention to their burgeoning new media operations.