Bitcoin miner MARA mulls buying $168-million stake in French data firm: Bloomberg

Bitcoin miner MARA Holdings may spend $168 million to acquire a majority stake in a French data firm, Bloomberg reported on Monday, citing anonymous sources.

If the transaction moves forward, MARA will pay $168 million in cash to secure a 64% stake in Exaion from EDF Pulse Ventures, according to the report . Exaion develops and runs data centers while also providing cloud and artificial intelligence infrastructure.

"While other top mining companies including Core Scientific Inc. and Hut 8 Corp., are focused on providing data-center infrastructure for so-called hyperscalers, MARA plans to build out operations for AI inference, which is a specific part of AI data processing that tends to require lower overhead investment," Bloomberg said.

MARA could potentially increase its stake in Exaion to 75% for an additional $127 million. EDF plans to remain a minority shareholder.

Along with an industry shift towards artificial intelligence and high-performance compute, crypto miners continue to recover profitability from the fourth Bitcoin halving in April 2024.

MARA has also recently leaned into a Bitcoin treasury strategy. It raised approximately $940.5 million to help buy more Bitcoin.

Less than two weeks ago, MARA reported its adjusted EBITDA had skyrocketed over 1,000% year on year. In the second quarter of this year, MARA earned $808.2 million, compared to a net loss of nearly $200 million in the prior-year quarter.

The company is the largest bitcoin miner by market cap and the second-largest corporate BTC holder after Strategy.