President-elect Donald Trump gestures at the Bitcoin 2024 event in Nashville, Tennessee, on July 27, 2024.
Kevin Wurm | Reuters
Trump Media is in “advanced talks” to buy the cryptocurrency trading firm Bakkt, the Financial Times reported Monday, citing two people with knowledge of the talks.
The news sent shares of both companies soaring.
Trump Media, which is majority owned by President-elect Donald Trump, shot up by double digits minutes after the Financial Times report was published.
The company, which operates the Truth Social app and trades on the Nasdaq as DJT, closed more than 16% higher.
Shares of Bakkt — which was created by Intercontinental Exchange, the owner of the New York Stock Exchange — skyrocketed more than 162% amid repeated trading halts due to volatility.
Kelly Loeffler, a previous CEO of Bakkt, is the co-chair of Trump’s inauguration committee.
Loeffler, who is married to Intercontinental Exchange CEO Jeffrey Sprecher, left as Bakkt’s top executive in 2019 when Georgia Gov. Brian Kemp appointed her to the U.S. Senate seat vacated by Sen. Johnny Isakson, who resigned due to health reasons.
Loeffler was defeated by Democratic Sen. Raphael Warnock in a runoff for a special election for her Senate seat.
Trump Media has seen its market value rise and fall by billions of dollars in the runup to the 2024 presidential election, as retail investors bet on the Republican’s momentum and political prospects.
While Trump Media has reported a $363 million net loss on revenue of just $2.6 million so far this year, it boasts a market cap above $7 billion. The company said in its third-quarter earnings report that it holds nearly $673 million in cash and cash equivalents.
A Trump Media spokeswoman did not immediately respond to CNBC’s request for comment.
The reported acquisition moves show Trump further developing his business interests in the cryptocurrency realm, even as he is set to enter the White House on Jan. 20, 2025.
Just three weeks before the Nov. 5 presidential election, Trump hyped the launch of a token pegged to a new crypto venture dubbed World Liberty Financial. As part of the deal with WLF, Trump and his family are poised to rake in 75% of its net coin revenue while assuming no liability.
Bakkt was founded in 2018 to offer tech services for crypto investors. The Alpharetta, Georgia-based company in its latest fiscal quarter reported total revenue of $328.4 million and an operating loss of $27.4 million, a 48% improvement from the prior year.
In March, Bakkt revealed that the New York Stock Exchange had warned the company that it was at risk of being delisted because its common stock was trading at an average below the exchange’s $1 per share minimum for at least 30 consecutive trading days.
In April, Bakkt carried out a reverse stock split at a 1-for-25 ratio.
— CNBC’s Dan Mangan contributed to this report.