Truth Social’s parent, Trump Media merges with nuclear fusion company TAE Technologies | World News
FILE – The download screen for Truth Social app is seen on a laptop computer, March 20, 2024, in New York. (AP Photo/John Minchillo, File)
Trump Media & Technology, the parent company of social-media platform Truth Social, will merge with a fusion power company in an all-stock deal that the companies said Thursday is valued at more than $6 billion.
The combined company says it plans to find a site and begin construction next year on the “world’s first utility-scale fusion power plant,” with aims to provide the electricity needed for artificial intelligence.
The Truth social network logo is seen displayed behind a woman holding a smartphone in this picture illustration taken February 21, 2022. REUTERS/Dado Ruvic/Illustration
Who gets what with merger
Devin Nunes, the Republican congressman who resigned in 2021 to become the CEO of Trump Media, will be co-CEO of the new company with TAE Technologies CEO Michl Binderbauer.
TAE and Trump Media shareholders will each own approximately 50% of the combined company. Trump is far the largest stakeholder in Trump Media, owning 41% of all outstanding shares.
What does TAE Technologies do?
Backed Google and other investors, TAE is a private company and the merger with Trump Media would create one of the first publicly traded nuclear fusion companies.Story continues below this ad
Backed Google and other investors, TAE is a private company. (Photo: TAE Technologies)
TAE focuses on nuclear fusion, a technology that combines two light atomic nuclei to form a single heavier one. It releases enormous amount of energy, a process that occurs on the sun and other stars, according to the United Nations’ International Atomic Energy Agency.
“We’re taking a big step forward toward a revolutionary technology that will cement America’s global energy dominance for generations,” Nunes said in a statement.
Fusion power has been seen as a promising solution to climate change caused burning fossil fuels. (Photo: TAE Technologies)
According to a Reuters report, the merger was announced just days after fusion industry representatives urged federal funding to accelerate the deployment of first-of-a-kind demonstration plants, invest in critical research infrastructure, and build resilient supply chains.
Future of fusion power
Fusion power has been seen as a promising solution to climate change caused burning fossil fuels, but one that is a long way off compared to today’s clean technologies like wind and solar.Story continues below this ad
In October, the Department of Energy released what it called a “roadmap” for fusion technology, with the aim of fostering “a burgeoning fusion private sector industry in the U.S. toward maturity on the most rapid timeline.”
A number of tech companies, including Google, Microsoft and OpenAI CEO Sam Altman, have shown interest in fusion technology as a way of powering the energy-hungry data centres needed to build and run their AI products.
