Three big deals have Trump in common
Add Axios as your preferred source to
see more of our stories on Google.
Illustration: Sarah Grillo/Axios
We've seen three giant financial deals in the past 24 hours, and they all have something in common: Ties to the Trump administration.
The big picture: This isn't to suggest coordination or impropriety, but rather that economic confidence grows stronger with greater proximity to political power.
Deal 1: SoftBank agreed to acquire Silicon Valley chipmaker Ampere Computing for $6.5 billion in cash from Carlyle and Oracle.
- SoftBank CEO Masa Son appeared next to Trump just one day after the inauguration, as part of the Stargate announcement, just weeks after doing a similar standup at Mar-a-Lago.
- Oracle, meanwhile, is led by Trump donors Larry Ellison and Safra Catz, and reportedly is working with the White House on a TikTok deal.
- SoftBank is based in Japan, so the Ampere deal acquisition will require CFIUS approval.
Deal 2: QXO, a building products rollup platform led by Brad Jacobs, agreed to buy Beacon Roofing Supply for around $11 billion, or $124.35 per share.
- Beacon had rejected an earlier bid from QXO, which then went hostile before slightly raising its offer and returning to the table.
- QXO last summer raised $150 million from Affinity Partners, the private equity firm led by Jared Kushner (who joined the QXO board).
Deal 3: Elon Musk's X raised nearly $1 billion in new equity at around the same valuation at which he took the company private in 2022, per Bloomberg.
- Musk himself reportedly invested, making him the only insider to participate. Others include 1789 Capital, which recently added Donald Trump Jr. as a partner.
The bottom line: If you're trying to handicap America's M&A market, it might be smart to watch the White House visitor logs.
