Trump’s new corporate playbook: Why the administration is taking equity stakes in companies like Intel

Over the past two years, on multiple occasions, the Trump administration has taken an equity stake in an American corporation rather than offering a bailout, tax subsidy, or grant. The administration is now acquiring stakes in private-sector companies deemed critical to national security.

“The Trump/Lutnick camp frames this as a smart way to help American businesses that find themselves in dire straits, while also allowing for potential return on investment,” Shontell writes. “If the Treasury could get the kind of returns top venture capitalists and their limited partners make, it could eventually scale up to dent America’s deficit. If a company goes from bankrupt to billions, couldn’t it help Americans to share a piece of the pie?

“The bear case: Truly free markets—a foundation of democracy—require the government not to meddle in corporate governance. Government equity stakes could make it highly tempting for a future administration to cross that line. (What’s more, most venture investments flop.)”

When Trump decides to take the government into a struggling American company, two factors usually drive it, Shontell explains: the opportunity itself, and whether the CEO can win him over personally. Intel is the textbook case. Last August, in an unusual deal, Trump negotiated a 9.9% stake worth about $10 billion in the chipmaker, which was grappling with falling market share and heavy debt.

“[Intel CEO Lip-Bu Tan] came in to see me,” Trump told Shontell. “I liked him, I thought he was good.”

Shontell points out that Trump also had leverage: substantial federal grants for chipmaking that had been earmarked, but not yet delivered, to Intel. The chipmaker’s stock has taken off since. 

The top sectors being prioritized for corporate equity stakes include semiconductors, critical minerals, and nuclear energy, according to research from CSIS.

In the interview, Shontell also addressed how U.S. stocks are reeling off record after record despite the Iran war and high oil prices. One source of that strength is capital expenditures by major tech companies like Amazon, Meta, and Alphabet on AI-infrastructure-related expenses. She asked the president what he feels is behind the resilience. You can read Shontell’s complete interview with Trump here.

Sheryl Estrada
sheryl.estrada@fortune.com

Leaderboard

Michael Dillon was appointed CFO and chief operating officer of the NBA’s Minnesota Timberwolves and Lynx, effective immediately. Dillon joins the organization from the Pittsburgh Penguins, where he served as CFO. Before his time in Pittsburgh, Dillon spent eight years with the Houston Astros, where he rose to VP of business strategy and analytics and played a key role in advancing the organization’s data-driven approach. He also founded SimpleSeats.com, a sports ticketing platform. Earlier in his career, Dillon was a consultant at Bain & Company.

Jing Nealis was appointed CFO of NeoVolta Inc. (Nasdaq: NEOV), a U.S.-based energy technology company, effective May 18. Nealis succeeds Steve Bond, who will continue with the company as EVP and president of NeoVolta Power LLC.  Nealis brings more than 20 years of financial leadership experience. She most recently served as CFO of SES AI Corporation.

Big Deal

“Tokenization will change U.S. transaction flows; less likely to remove intermediaries” is a report released by Moody’s Ratings. It examines three scenarios based on the pace of tokenization of real-world assets and the related use of on-chain cash settlement: a base case (steady growth), low growth, and rapid growth. The analysis is set against the backdrop of the GENIUS Act, which established the first federal framework for payment stablecoins.

According to Moody’s, the clearest beneficiaries across all three scenarios are algorithmic principal traders, fintechs, along with asset managers.

Going deeper

“AI’s Real Impact on Jobs and Productivity” is an episode of This Week in Business podcast by Wharton. Peter Cappelli, Wharton professor of management, discusses topics including why AI has yet to significantly replace jobs, and how companies are navigating AI investments and organizational change.

Overheard

“If other technicians at another site across the region have solved that recently, then you don’t need to waste time solving the same problems over and over again. We can just surface it and say, ‘Here’s how Joe fixed it over there last week.'”

—Nick Haase, co-founder and head of GTM at MaintainX, told Fortune in an interview about how Colorado car wash chain Autowash adopted MaintainX’s AI-powered maintenance system. The platform shares summaries up front, surfaces information about what worked last time, pinpoints the exact part that’s needed, and improves as it gains more data—allowing the company to reimagine its entire operations layer around data and AI.