AI nuclear power startup Fermi’s founder urged selling the company after stepping down: market value fell 83% in half a year

According to a report by Bloomberg on April 21, Toby Neugebauer, co-founder of Fermi, an AI-dedicated nuclear power startup (stock ticker FRMI), publicly called on April 21 for the company to be sold after the board removed him as CEO on April 18. Miles Everson also announced his departure the same day as CFO. The company’s stock price plunged 22% on April 20; since Fermi’s IPO peak in October 2025, its market cap has slid from $20 billion to $3.4 billion, with 83% wiped out in half a year.

Management shake-up: CEO and CFO step down on the same day

On April 18, Fermi announced that Neugebauer resigned as CEO and simultaneously disclosed that CFO Miles Everson was leaving. Neugebauer will continue to serve on the board but will step down as chair. During the transition period, daily operations will be handled by the newly established “Office of the CEO,” with COO Jacobo Ortiz Blanes and former board adviser Anna Bofa as members.

In a follow-up report on April 21, Bloomberg said that after stepping down, Neugebauer publicly demanded that the company be sold, clearly expressing disagreement with the current board’s direction. This is rare: a former CEO of a public company called for selling the business to the outside world just two days after being ousted.

Financial and business challenges: no revenue before the IPO, loss of its first hyperscaler client

Fermi completed its IPO in October 2025. Before listing, the company had not generated any revenue, attracting investors with the concept of “AI data center-dedicated nuclear power.” The first hyperscaler customer contract that the company promised after going public failed to materialize on schedule, triggering a series of share-price declines. In addition, Neugebauer previously had a public conflict with U.S. Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick, further weakening the market’s confidence in the company’s political leverage.

Market-cap trajectory: about $20 billion at the October 2025 peak → about $3.4 billion on April 20, 2026; more than $16.6 billion evaporated within six months, a decline of 83%. In after-hours trading, it temporarily widened to 31%.

Real-world tests for the AI infrastructure narrative

Fermi’s slump serves as a warning bell for the “AI nuclear power supply” concept stocks that swept U.S. equities from 2025 to 2026. Other companies in the space include Oklo, NuScale, and Constellation Energy. The core narrative across the board is that large hyperscalers (Amazon, Meta, Microsoft, etc.) will lock in long-term nuclear PPA contracts (power purchase agreements) to support compute expansion.

Fermi’s predicament shows that there is still a huge execution gap between securing IPO funding at the narrative level and actually signing PPAs at the business level. It also contrasts with recent large compute deals from Amazon, such as its commitments to Anthropic for 5GW of compute and $100 billion over 10 years: compute contracts directly tied to hyperscalers and cutting-edge AI companies offer greater certainty than pure nuclear power supply concept stocks.

This article—Fermi, the founder of the AI nuclear power startup, called for selling the company after stepping down; its market cap fell 83% in half a year—first appeared on ChainNews ABMedia.