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The Trump family’s media group is weighing plans to spin off the Truth Social social media platform that is extensively used by Donald Trump, as it seeks to reposition itself as a major player in nuclear energy.
Trump Media & Technology Group on Friday said it was engaged in “ongoing discussions regarding a potential spin-off” of businesses including Truth Social — the US president’s preferred social media mouthpiece — into a new listed company.
The announcement comes two months after TMTG agreed a $6bn deal to combine with Google-backed fusion energy company TAE Technologies, and marks the latest pivot by the first family’s main publicly listed vehicle, which last year piled into cryptocurrencies while the digital asset market was riding high.
TMTG and TAE Technologies said they hoped to begin work later this year on a power plant to meet the soaring energy demands of AI.
Shares in TMTG, which is majority owned by the Trump family, have fallen more than 50 per cent over the past year. At the end of December, the company began offering digital tokens to investors who acquired its stock.
But the token offering did little to bolster TMTG’s shares and has left its shareholders frustrated, according to people briefed on the matter.
TMTG on Friday said businesses including Truth Social would merge with a publicly listed special purpose acquisition company called Texas Ventures III if the spin-off proceeded.
That vehicle — which earlier this week added two Trump Organization executives to its audit committee — is managed by Yorkville Advisors, one of the brokerages that has done extensive work for vehicles affiliated with the Trump family.
Yorkville helped TMTG go public through a 2024 merger with a blank-cheque company called Digital World Acquisition Corp, and raised more than $1bn for the company by selling its stock in regular share offerings last year.
Yorkville Advisors is TMTG’s fourth largest shareholder, with a roughly 2.4 per cent stake.
Last year, the Mountainside, New Jersey-based brokerage helped launch five TMTG-backed “America First themed” exchange traded funds.
Yorkville executives also helped TMTG raise $2.5bn to buy bitcoin last May as the company sought to ride a wave of enthusiasm for digital assets. Bitcoin’s price has plunged more than 40 per cent since it peaked at around $125,000 in October.
The US president uses Truth Social both to make important policy announcements, and to post videos, photos and memes.
Last month he used Truth Social to post some of December’s US jobs figures hours before their official release, providing an early glimpse at data that carries huge sway in global financial markets.
Three weeks ago Trump drew strong criticism from Democrats and Republicans for posting a video on his Truth Social account that included a racist meme depicting Barack and Michelle Obama as apes. The post was later removed.
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