Trump media group agrees $6bn merger with Google-backed fusion energy company

The Trump family media group has agreed to combine with Google-backed fusion energy company TAE Technologies in a deal valued at $6bn, representing a bet on nuclear energy powering the artificial intelligence boom.

The all-stock deal will merge Trump Media & Technology Group’s access to capital with TAE’s fusion technology in an effort to meet the soaring power demands of AI, the two groups said on Thursday.

The unusual deal highlights the changing nature of dealmaking in America under US President Donald Trump. It brings together two industries rarely seen at the same table: Trump Media, built on right-leaning online politics, and a Google-backed fusion company rooted in Silicon Valley’s long bet on breakthrough energy tech.

The combined group plans to start construction in 2026 on what they described as the world’s first utility-scale fusion power plant. They initially plan a 50MW facility and later up to 500MW.

Trump in May signed four executive orders aimed at reinvigorating the US nuclear industry and speeding up nuclear reactor construction. The order has propelled US nuclear energy stocks to record highs as investors hope to profit from a construction boom.

Some people involved in the transaction are presenting the merger as expediting TAE Technologies’ ability to develop its fusion power technologies, given TMTG’s political connections, according to a person briefed on the deal. TMTG “thinks this company has the killer fusion technology”, said the person.

TAE has raised about $1.3bn from investors, including Google and Chevron, amid growing interest from technology groups seeking long-term, carbon-free power for energy-intensive uses such as data centres.

Shareholders of the two companies will each own 50 per cent of the new combined group. Donald Trump Jr will serve on the new entity’s board.

Shares in TMTG, which is controlled by US President Donald Trump’s family, rose 33 per cent in morning trading following the announcement, giving the group a market value of about $3.8bn.

However, shares in TMTG, which went public via a special purpose acquisition company in March 2024, are still down nearly 70 per cent over the past year.

The merger is the latest example of TMTG’s scattergun business strategy, which has focused on policy areas advanced by the Trump administration.

Earlier this year TMTG raised $2.5bn to fund a bitcoin treasury to buy up the digital currency, as well as striking a strategic partnership with Crypto.com, riding a wave of enthusiasm over the Trump administration’s pro-crypto stance.

“Fusion is still pre-commercial, capital intensive, long-dated and technically uncertain,” said the chief executive of an investment group that backs US data centre real estate group Fermi.

“Wrapping it in a Trump-branded public vehicle looks less like a pure industrial combination and more like a capital markets move, a fast track to liquidity, profile and political cover,” he added.

TMTG’s latest quarterly results showed the company had $166mn in cash and cash equivalents. It reported a net loss of $54.8mn in the third quarter of this year.

Borrowing a phrase that Jamie Dimon has used to describe JPMorgan’s finances, TAE chief executive Michl Binderbauer hailed TMTG’s “fortress balance sheet” on an investor call on Thursday morning, saying it would “propel” the newly merged company to “first power in 2031”.

TMTG is being advised by Yorkville Advisors, a once-obscure firm that has been thrust into the centre of a flurry of Trump-linked crypto deals this year, riding a digital-asset boom encouraged by the administration.

Devin Nunes, TMTG’s chair and chief executive, said the deal would allow the company to “[take] a big step forward towards a revolutionary technology that will cement America’s global energy dominance for generations”.

In early December, TAE Technologies announced a joint venture with the UK Atomic Energy Authority to commercialise elements of its fusion technology for both fusion and non-energy uses, including medical applications. Backed by a £5.6mn equity contribution from the UK government’s atomic laboratory, the Oxfordshire-based venture aims to deliver its first such products by 2027.

At the time, UK business secretary Peter Kyle said the deal underscored the country’s position “at the heart of the international fusion supply chain”.

“This landmark partnership shows our Technology Prosperity Deal with the US in action and demonstrates our shared ambition to lead the global race for clean, secure fusion energy,” Kyle said.

Additional reporting by Ryohtaroh Satoh