Trump Media & Technology Group is making its most surprising bet yet — plunging headfirst into nuclear fusion with a $6 billion merger that would vault a little-known energy startup into the public markets.
The parent company of Truth Social announced Thursday it has struck an all-stock agreement to merge with private fusion firm TAE Technologies, creating what the companies say would be one of the world’s first publicly traded fusion-energy players.
The deal, expected to close in mid-2026 pending regulatory and shareholder approvals, would leave Trump Media and TAE shareholders each owning roughly 50% of the combined company.
Trump Media, which trades on Nasdaq under the ticker DJT, said it would also inject hundreds of millions of dollars in cash into the business to speed development of fusion reactors — a stunning pivot for a company best known for hosting President Donald Trump’s social media posts.
The transaction values the combined company at more than $6 billion. Shares of DJT jumped more than 35% in mid-morning trading following the announcement.
The merger represents a dramatic strategic shift for Trump Media, which has struggled to generate meaningful revenue from its core product, Truth Social, while racking up heavy losses since going public in 2024.
For the full year 2024, Trump Media reported just $3.6 million in revenue against losses of roughly $400 million.
The company lost another $54.8 million in the third quarter of 2025 on revenue of less than $1 million, according to regulatory filings.
Despite those losses, Trump Media has amassed a large asset base, bolstered in part by ventures into cryptocurrency.
As of late 2025, the company reported more than $3 billion in assets, giving it the financial firepower to bankroll an unexpected leap into energy.
That capital is now being aimed at fusion — the long-sought process that powers the sun and promises virtually limitless, carbon-free energy as booming AI-driven data center construction fuels renewed interest in nuclear power.
TAE Technologies, founded in 1998, has spent more than two decades quietly pursuing an unconventional path to fusion power.
Originally known as Tri Alpha Energy, the company focuses on aneutronic fusion — a form of nuclear fusion in which a minimal amount of the energy that is releasedis carried by neutrons.
The technology uses hydrogen and boron fuel, a reaction that produces far less radioactive waste than traditional fusion approaches.
Unlike government-backed fusion projects that rely on massive reactors, TAE is developing a compact, linear system known as a field-reversed configuration, or FRC.
The company says its latest experimental device has sustained plasma at temperatures exceeding 70 million degrees Celsius — a key technical milestone.
TAE has raised more than $1.5 billion in private funding from investors that have included Google and Chevron, but it has yet to generate commercial power.
The merger with Trump Media offers TAE a fast track to the public markets and access to deep pools of capital at a moment when energy demand is surging.
In a joint statement, the companies said they aim to build “the world’s first utility-scale fusion power plant” and position the United States at the forefront of energy production for the AI era.
“Fusion power will be the most dramatic energy breakthrough since the onset of commercial nuclear energy in the 1950s — an innovation that will lower energy prices, boost supply, ensure America’s AI supremacy, revive our manufacturing base and bolster national defense,” Trump Media Chairman Devin Nunes said.
Under the terms of the agreement, Trump Media will provide up to $200 million in cash at signing, with an additional $100 million to follow when regulatory filings are made.
The funds are intended to accelerate TAE’s engineering work and site preparation for its first commercial plant.
