Marathon Holdings Reports Significant Losses Amid Strategic Shift

Marathon Holdings (MARA) has announced a substantial net loss of $1.71 billion for the fourth quarter of 2025, translating to $4.52 per diluted share. This marks a stark contrast to the net income of $528.3 million, or $1.24 per diluted share, recorded in the same period the previous year. According to Cointelegraph, the company's revenue for Q4 decreased by 6% to $202.3 million, down from $214.4 million in Q4 2024, primarily due to the lower average Bitcoin (BTC) price, which overshadowed the benefits of an increased hashrate. For the entirety of 2025, Marathon reported a net loss of $1.31 billion, a significant downturn from the net income of $541 million in 2024, despite a rise in revenue to $907.1 million from $656.4 million the previous year. The company attributed its Q4 net income decline to a $1.50 billion negative change in the fair value of digital assets and digital assets receivable, reflecting Bitcoin's price drop from approximately $114,300 on September 30 to around $88,800 on December 31, based on CoinGecko data. Marathon's stock has also suffered, with a 46% decrease over the past six months. On the production front, Marathon mined 2,011 BTC in Q4 2025, a 6% decrease from 2,144 BTC in the previous quarter and 2,492 BTC in the same period the previous year. For the full year, the company mined 8,799 BTC, compared to 9,430 BTC in 2024. At the end of 2025, Marathon held 53,822 BTC, including 15,315 BTC loaned or pledged as collateral, with its balance sheet BTC valued at approximately $4.7 billion at a quarter-end spot price of $87,498 per coin. In its Q4 shareholder letter, Marathon outlined a strategic shift from solely focusing on Bitcoin mining to becoming an energy and digital infrastructure company. This includes a joint venture with Starwood Digital Ventures to develop AI and high-performance compute (HPC) data centers at power-rich sites. The partnership aims to support over 1 gigawatt of IT capacity initially, with potential expansion to more than 2.5 gigawatts, allowing Marathon to invest up to 50% in individual projects while continuing mining operations where power remains favorable. Additionally, Marathon acquired a 64% stake in Exaion in February to target sovereign-grade and enterprise AI deployments. Marathon's hybrid strategy emerges as other major miners explore various approaches amid the latest Bitcoin downturn. Hut 8 reported a fourth-quarter net loss of $279.7 million, focusing on a $7 billion AI data center lease, while American Bitcoin, backed by U.S. President Donald Trump, reported a $59.5 million Q4 2025 loss but continues to pursue its mine-and-hoard BTC model.