Two of the year’s most significant deals in U.S. tech and media were confirmed this week, pushing the boundaries of digital platforms and future energy investment: Trump Media & Technology Group agreed to merge with fusion energy firm TAE Technologies in a deal valued at more than $6 billion, while TikTok’s U.S. business is being sold to a consortium led by Oracle, Silver Lake and MGX in a long-running effort to keep the platform operating in the United States.
In a strategic pivot announced Thursday, Trump Media — the publicly traded parent of former President Donald Trump’s social media platform Truth Social — inked an all-stock merger with TAE Technologies, a California-based developer of nuclear fusion energy technology. The boards of both companies have approved the transaction valued at over $6 billion, set to close in mid-2026 pending shareholder and regulatory approval. The merged company is expected to be co-led by Trump Media and TAE executives and intends to begin construction of a 50-megawatt utility-scale fusion power plant as early as 2026, marking a high-profile entry into commercial fusion power — a sector long touted as the “holy grail” of clean energy. The stock of Trump Media surged sharply on the announcement, reflecting investor enthusiasm for its new direction.
The merger represents a dramatic shift for Trump Media beyond its struggling social media operations, which reported substantial financial losses last year. By partnering with a nuclear fusion developer backed by major investors — including Google and Chevron Technology Ventures for TAE — the combined company aims to address the growing energy demands of AI infrastructure, data centres and decarbonisation goals while aligning media influence with futuristic technology development.
Meanwhile, TikTok’s U.S. business cleared another major hurdle in its long-running effort to comply with U.S. national security and ownership requirements. TikTok and its Chinese parent ByteDance have signed binding agreements with a consortium of investors including Oracle Corporation, private equity firm Silver Lake, and Abu Dhabi–based investment vehicle MGX to form a new U.S. entity under the name TikTok USDS Joint Venture LLC. Under the agreements, which are expected to close by January 22, 2026, these investors will collectively hold a controlling stake — part of a broader ownership structure designed to ensure compliance with U.S. regulatory demands and to avert a potential nationwide ban on the platform.
The new venture will be governed by a majority-American board of directors and will assume responsibility for key operational functions, including data protection, algorithm security, content moderation and software assurance — all aimed at addressing longstanding concerns that TikTok’s management could expose U.S. user information or be influenced by foreign interests. Oracle will also manage the storage of U.S. user data locally, and the platform’s recommendation algorithm will be retrained using American data to minimise potential external manipulation. ByteDance will retain a minority 19.9 per cent stake in the new entity, alongside other affiliate investors.
The TikTok restructuring follows intense political and legal pressure, including bipartisan efforts by the U.S. Congress and executive actions aimed at compelling divestiture or risking a ban on the app within the U.S. market, where TikTok counts over 170 million users. The consortium arrangement — underwritten by major global tech investors and sovereign funds — is widely seen as a path to preserving TikTok’s American presence while satisfying lawmakers’ security mandates.
