Donald Trump’s sons Donald Trump Jr and Eric Trump look to make a motza from drones
Annie Massa And Tom Maloney
A fund that counts President Donald Trump’s eldest sons as partners invested in a pair of smaller companies last year: a construction firm that builds Orange Theory Fitness facilities and the operator of two Florida golf courses.
Just a few months later, these investments look quite different. Both companies have recently pivoted to drones, a technology that has played a key role in the US and Israel’s war against Iran.
In total, Trump’s sons have backed at least three drone companies since 2024; all of them are located in Florida, home to the U.S. military’s Central Command and the president’s Mar-a-Lago mansion.
Since their father’s return to the White House, Donald Trump Jr and Eric Trump have strengthened the family’s status with a series of new deals and ventures in areas such as crypto, earning hundreds of millions of dollars on paper. But few intersect government priorities as closely as initiatives aimed at drones.
So far it’s unclear exactly how valuable these investments are to the Trumps. But Trump Jr. and Eric are partners in a fund called American Ventures, which reports owning stakes worth about US$750 million ($1 billion) in drone companies, according to data compiled by Bloomberg..
The three-way deal shows how big a stock boom in drone-related public companies could quickly lead to windfall gains. This is especially true for American Ventures, which backs drone manufacturers, as the Pentagon aims to spend about $1 billion on related technology over the next two years.
Spokespeople for Eric Trump and Trump Jr. declined to comment. The Department of Defense did not respond to a request for comment.
The deals come at a time when drones are a key focus for the US military, which is deploying one-way strike systems for the first time in the Iran conflict and is looking for cheaper ways to shoot down enemy drones than using $4 million interceptors.
Powerus, the company at the center of the Trumps’ latest drone deal, was co-founded by Brett Velicovich, a former US military and former Delta Force intelligence analyst. Drone Warrior.
Now Velicovich said Powerus is considering selling more to the Pentagon while also putting shares of the company into the hands of ordinary investors. It is seeking additional funding to increase production to 10,000 small remote-controlled drones per month, from 1,000 currently.
“The Trump family understands how important drone technology is to America right now,” Velicovich said in an interview.
This week, Powerus announced that instead of going public through a regular IPO, it would merge with Aureus Greenway Holdings, a small Nasdaq-listed company that operates two golf courses just south of Orlando.
This deal had a familiar cast: Dominari Holdings, the Trump-backed investment bank, advised on the transaction. Unusual Machines, a drone parts manufacturer in which Trump Jr. invested, also participated. Dominari and Unusual Machines did not respond to requests for comment.
Weeks ago, Eric Trump supported a similar reverse merger plan for Israeli drone maker Xtend, which keeps its US headquarters in Tampa, not far from US Central Command.
“The United States has taken a clear stance on protecting its Western allies, and I believe strongly in that mission,” Aviv Shapira, CEO of Xtend, said in an emailed statement.
“We are proud that our technology helps protect the brave men and women who serve in the military.”
Stacie Pettyjohn, director of the advocacy program at the Center for a New American Security in Washington, said the potential for conflicts of interest looms because the Trumps support companies working to secure government contracts.
All three Trump-backed drone companies are courting government business. Xtend said it received a “million-dollar” contract from the Department of Defense for attack drones last year, while Velicovich said Powerus subsidiaries sold products to the US government. Unusual Machines received an order for the engine from the U.S. Army’s 101st Airborne Division last year.
“It creates challenges in how the government contracts,” Pettyjohn said. “It is unclear how conflicts of interest play out and who will receive preferential treatment.”
Under the Trump administration, the Department of Defense launched a “Drone Domination” initiative that aims to arm U.S. forces with hundreds of thousands of lethal drones. This goal has encouraged companies to produce devices that can destroy targets, spy on enemies, and drop supplies.
Last July, shortly after Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth announced the Pentagon’s drone focus, Aureus Greenway—then nothing more than a microcap stock that had been rising to about 60 cents per share for months—suddenly tripled in one day in a trading blitz.
The following month, securities filings showed that American Ventures had raised a significant amount of shares. It had risen to $5.48 per share when it announced its merger with Powerus this month. Even after giving back some of those earnings, American Ventures’ assets are worth about $400 million. Bloomberg predictions.
Aureus Greenway declined to comment beyond its public filings.
Similar to Powerus, Xtend is going public by merging with a small company in Florida that until recently had nothing to do with drones. Shares of a company called JFB Construction Holdings soared last September. American Ventures had raised shares.
‘While drones are hot and the US needs more companies, it’s unclear how many of them will be sustainable.’
Stacie Pettyjohn, Advocacy Program Director, Center for a New American Security
In the weeks leading up to the Iran war, JFB Construction said it would merge with Xtend, with backing from Eric Trump and Unusual Machines. Data compiled by Bloomberg show that American Ventures’ shares were worth about $340 million at Wednesday’s closing price. JFB Construction did not respond to a request for comment.
Xtend said this month that it began mobilizing drone production equipment at the request of the Israeli Ministry of Defense. A spokesperson for Xtend said the company “does not comment on specific deployments” when asked whether its products were used in the Iran conflict.
Unusual Machines tapped Trump Jr. even earlier as an advisor after the 2024 election. He had a stake in the company as of December 2024, according to a filing. These shares are worth more than $7 million.
It did not go unnoticed by industry executives that the US Central Command has highlighted unmanned aerial vehicles since the first moments of the Iran war.
“The situation in Iran has sent a clear signal to the drone industry,” said Olaf Hichwa, co-founder of California-based drone manufacturer Neros Technologies. “Now is the time to produce these systems.”
Last month, the Pentagon brought together 25 companies to conduct the first competition phase of its Drone Domination program. Xtend was part of the group but ultimately was not selected in the first round, called the “flight”.
Powerus did not participate in the first round, but the company is “paying very close attention” to subsequent rounds, Velicovich said.
Pettyjohn, of the Center for a New American Security, warned that manufacturers’ overhyping may ultimately be out of step with the pace of technological change and the vagaries of government contracts. “While drones are hot and the US needs more companies, it’s unclear how many will be sustainable,” he said.
Bloomberg
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