MARA Stock Jumps On $1.5 Billion Long Ridge Deal In Latest Shift Beyond Bitcoin Mining

• MARA announced a $1.5 billion acquisition of Long Ridge Energy & Power on Thursday.
• The company said the new assets are expected to generate approximately $144 million in annualized adjusted EBITDA.
• In an interview with Reuters, Chief Executive Fred Thiel said the company has already attracted interest from potential tenants, including hyperscalers that provide large-scale cloud computing capacity. 

MARA Holdings (MARA) shares rose in morning trade on Thursday after the company announced it had agreed to acquire Long Ridge Energy & Power for around $1.5 billion, marking another step in the company’s effort to reposition itself beyond Bitcoin (BTC) mining and toward energy and digital infrastructure.

The $1.5 billion deal includes an assumption of at least $785 million of debt. The acquisition includes a 505-megawatt combined-cycle gas turbine (CCGT) facility and a development campus with more than 1 gigawatt (GW) of potential capacity. 

MARA’s stock rose over 7% at market open and was among the top trending tickers on Stocktwits at the time of writing. Retail sentiemnt around the company on the platform trended in ‘bearish’ territory over the past day, accompanied by chatter at ‘normal’ levels. 

MARA said the assets are expected to contribute roughly $144 million in annualized adjusted earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and ammortization (EBITDA) and increase its owned capacity by about 65%. The company also cited all-in operating costs of about $15 per megawatt-hour (MW/h) and said the deal is expected to close in the second half of 2026, subject to regulatory approvals.

Some retail traders on Stocktwits questioned the timing and execution of the company’s moves, particularly the absence of confirmed tenants for its data center plans.

In an interview with Reuters, Chief Executive Fred Thiel said the company has already attracted interest from potential tenants, including hyperscalers that provide large-scale cloud computing capacity. He added that MARA expects to have a tenant in place around the time the deal closes, in the second half of the year.

MARA’s Shift Beyond Bitcoin Mining Gains Pace

The Bitcoin miner, like many others in the industry, announced that it was pivoting to AI and digital infrastructure in August last year. The firm has since acquired 64% stake in Exaion, a high performance computing firm, and launched a joint venture with Starwood Digital Ventures.

MARA also sold its Bitcoin holdings in March, divesting 15,133 BTC for around $1.1 billion. CEO Fred Thiel called it a deliberate capital allocation to strengthen the balance sheet, enhance financial flexibility, and fund the pivot to AI/HPC infrastructure and digital energy beyond pure Bitcoin mining.

Earlier this week, the company established MARA Foundation, announced at the Bitcoin 2026 conference. It supports Bitcoin ecosystem R&D and addresses post-halving challenges, furthering the infrastructure focus. Retail traders on Stocktwits, at the time, expressed their frustration against the CEO for "giving away" money while the stock price was struggling. 

Bitcoin’s price edged 0.3% lower in the last 24 hours to around $76,500. Retail sentiment around the apex cryptocurrency on Stocktwits trended in ‘neutral’ territory over the past day, accompanied by chatter at ‘normal’ levels. BTC’s price is down over 12% year-to-date and has slipped nearly 20% over the past 12 months.

Meanwhile, MARA shares have gained nearly 30% this year but remain down over 10% over the past 12 months.

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