SPACs Are Back, and MAGA Is Fueling Their Growth
Hundreds of the blank-check companies have sprouted since Trump’s return to office, and many of them dovetail with his agenda.
The final year of Donald Trump’s first presidency kicked off a boom in so-called special purpose acquisition companies, with hundreds reaching the market. When Joe Biden moved into the White House and cracked down on the murky investments, the frenzy subsided, but with Trump’s return to power SPACs are back. Founders have raised more than $24 billion since the November election, easily exceeding the past two years combined.
A sizable number of them have ties to Trump’s inner circle. Brandon Lutnick, son of the US secretary of commerce; Devin Nunes, chief executive officer of Trump Media & Technology Group Corp. and a former GOP representative; and Chamath Palihapitiya, a big-time donor who hosts a podcast with the president’s crypto czar, have all founded SPACs. And Trump’s two eldest sons are listed as advisers on a SPAC that’s yet to sell shares but is targeting a manufacturer that will reinforce “America’s economic foundation.”