Trump Media & Technology Group, the newly formed company whose assets include nascent social media platform Truth Social, has reported 2023 revenue of $4.1 million and a net loss of $58.2 million.
The full-year figures were disclosed in new SEC filings Monday. Investors pounced on the numbers, sending shares in the newly formed company down more than 25% in mid-day trading. The stock’s movement is being watched closely because the company’s majority shareholder is Donald Trump, the former president who is poised to become this year’s Republican presidential nominee.
Last week’s public stock debut of Trump’s company, which was created via a SPAC merger, gave Trump a paper windfall of more than $5 billion at a critical juncture. Trump has faced sizable legal bills in recent months as he defends himself against dozens of criminal and civil charges in multiple jurisdictions. A judge in New York recently lowered the amount of his bond in a civil fraud case to $175 million, but the judgment had put Trump’s finances under a microscope.
Trump and other shareholders are subject to a six-month lockup period, according to the latest SEC filing, which would prevent any sales of shares. That provision is generally enforced in order to prevent immediate selling by principals from triggering a crash in a stock. It has been speculated that Trump could be granted a waiver by the company’s board of directors, whose seven members include his son, Donald Trump Jr., that would grant him permission to sell shares.
Truth Social, which was launched as a response to limits put in place on Trump and other right-wing figures on various digital and social platforms, has not posted dramatic growth as of yet. Trump’s following illustrates the disparity. He has 7 million followers on Truth Social, compared with 87 million on Twitter, which is now known as X. Elon Musk, who acquired Twitter in 2022, restored Trump’s account after it had been shut down in the wake of the January 6 attacks. Given his financial interests in Truth Social, Trump has relied on it as his main outlet and has not returned to posting on Twitter/X.