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Marathon Digital (NASDAQ: MARA) said executives used the first quarter of fiscal 2026 to accelerate its shift from a pure-play Bitcoin miner toward a broader digital infrastructure business focused on power-backed AI, high-performance computing and critical IT workloads.
Chairman and CEO Fred Thiel called the quarter “redefining” for MARA, pointing to progress on its Starwood joint venture, the acquisition of a majority interest in Exaion, retirement of a portion of its convertible debt, and a post-quarter announcement of a definitive agreement to acquire Long Ridge Energy & Power from FTAI Infrastructure.
Thiel said MARA views the Long Ridge transaction as a “land and power acquisition” intended to support development of a large compute campus. The site is adjacent to MARA’s existing Hannibal operations and includes roughly 1,600 acres, with a path to expand existing power capacity from 200 megawatts to more than 1 gigawatt, according to the company.
The Long Ridge site includes an approximately 505-megawatt nameplate combined-cycle gas turbine in the PJM Interconnection. Thiel said the plant generated $144 million of annualized adjusted EBITDA in the second half of 2025, with 76% contracted capacity.
MARA said the deal would increase its owned and operating capacity by about 65%, from approximately 1.3 gigawatts of energized capacity to roughly 2.2 gigawatts by closing, and 2.4 gigawatts including expansion capacity. The company said it has been in advanced discussions with prospective tenants across multiple sites.
Long Ridge’s initial plan calls for a 200-megawatt AI build-out, with construction beginning around the first half of 2027 and initial capacity expected online in mid-2028. Thiel said a 200-megawatt facility would likely take 18 to 24 months to come online, and that behind-the-meter expansion is expected sooner than additional grid interconnection capacity.
Thiel emphasized that MARA’s Hannibal Bitcoin mining operations would continue until the data center campus requires the power, and the company does not expect to reduce Long Ridge’s current power supply into the PJM grid.
MARA executives also highlighted progress on the Starwood partnership. Thiel said the company advanced permitting and site preparation and entered active tenant discussions with multiple counterparties, including hyperscalers, across 90% of its existing owned and operated sites, including Long Ridge.
Thiel said Starwood provides data center development and engineering, procurement and construction capabilities, along with experience developing more than 7 gigawatts of data center capacity worldwide. MARA’s role is to contribute sites, with value determined by pre-agreed site-specific economics tied to power, land, interconnection and development attributes.
For an illustrative 200-megawatt project, Thiel said MARA could generate approximately $50 million to $100 million of net annualized stabilized cash flow based on a 9% to 15% yield-on-cost range, with “little to no incremental equity required” beyond the contributed site value. He said MARA expects to sign multiple tenant leases by year-end and will disclose contracted megawatts as the pipeline converts.
During the Q&A, Thiel said prospective tenant competition supports the company’s leasing timeline, adding that demand for AI capacity continues to rise as model providers and enterprises require more compute for training and inference workloads.
Thiel said Exaion provides a second pathway into AI infrastructure, focused on sovereign, enterprise and private cloud deployments. He said governments and enterprises—particularly in Europe and Canada—are increasingly seeking greater control over compute, data autonomy, compliance and security.
“The simplest way to think about it is Starwood and Exaion are different expressions of the same thesis,” Thiel said. He described the joint venture as pursuing large-scale colocation for hyperscalers, while Exaion targets private cloud, sovereign AI and enterprise deployments in regulated markets.
MARA said it is building on activity in the UAE, Finland and Oman and is in discussions with major energy companies in France, Brazil and Saudi Arabia.
Chief Financial Officer Salman Khan said first-quarter revenue was $174.6 million, down from $213.9 million in the prior-year period. Khan said the decline was primarily driven by an 18% decrease in Bitcoin’s average price, which reduced revenue by $33.1 million, along with lower production and reduced revenue from other digital asset hosting services.
MARA reported a net loss of $1.3 billion, or $3.31 per diluted share, compared with a net loss of $533.4 million, or $1.55 per diluted share, in the first quarter of 2025. Khan said approximately $1 billion of the first-quarter 2026 loss came from an unrealized mark-to-market fair value adjustment on digital assets tied to the decline in Bitcoin’s price.
Adjusted EBITDA was negative $1 billion, compared with negative $483.6 million in the prior-year period, and Khan said it was also dominated by Bitcoin mark-to-market changes.
Operationally, MARA delivered a record energized hash rate of 72.2 exahash per second, up 33% from 54.3 exahash per second in the first quarter of 2025. The company mined 2,247 Bitcoin, or 25 Bitcoin per day, about 39 fewer Bitcoin than in the prior-year period, as higher network difficulty offset increased hash rate.
Khan said MARA retired approximately 33% of its outstanding debt during the quarter, including a 30% reduction in convertible notes at a discount. He said the actions reduced potential dilution from convertible notes by as much as approximately 46 million shares, or 9% on a fully diluted basis.
The company sold approximately $1.5 billion of Bitcoin during the quarter. Proceeds were used to repurchase more than $1 billion of face value of its 2030 and 2031 notes at a discount and to reduce its line of credit by $200 million. MARA also refinanced $150 million of its line of credit at a 7% interest rate, down from 10.5%.
Khan said MARA has not used its at-the-market equity offering program since the end of the third quarter of 2025, funding operations and balance sheet actions through Bitcoin monetization rather than equity issuance.
At quarter-end, MARA held 35,303 Bitcoin, down 12,228 from the prior year. About 28% of the holdings were activated and loaned or pledged as collateral, generating $6.4 million of interest income during the quarter.
MARA also reduced its workforce by 15% as part of a realignment toward AI and critical IT, producing expected annualized savings of $12 million. The company recorded a $45.9 million restructuring charge related to eliminated initiatives and realignment.
Thiel said MARA recognizes investors want evidence of execution, including signed contracts and contracted megawatts. He said the company is “redefining itself as a digital infrastructure company,” controlling and monetizing electrons to their best value across multiple compute markets.
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