Trump Media Reports Lackluster Revenues and Large Losses
On Monday, former President Donald J. Trump’s social media company reported taking in $770,000 in advertising revenue in the first three months of the year, largely from its Truth Social platform, as it continued to incur hefty losses.
The company, Trump Media & Technology Group, completed a long-awaited merger in March with Digital World Acquisition Corp., a cash-rich shell company that served as a vehicle for taking Trump Media public. After the merger, Trump Media said it had about $274 million in cash and cash equivalents on its balance sheet, which would enable the company to “fund operations for the foreseeable future.”
The public debut of Trump Media has been a boon to Mr. Trump, who owns a nearly 65 percent stake, worth about $6 billion. The company also boasts an equally lofty valuation of more than $7 billion based on the price of the company’s shares.
In a regulatory filing, the company said that it took in $770,000 in the past quarter, compared with $1.1 million in revenue in the year-ago quarter. The company said that much of the revenue “decrease was attributable to a change in the revenue share with one of our advertising partners.”
It’s hard to compare the year-ago period with the first quarter, which was dominated by expenses related to the completion of the company’s merger. In the first three months of the year, Trump Media had a net loss of $327.6 million, with $311 million of it resulting from “noncash expenses arising from the conversion of promissory notes.”
Upon the closing of the deal on March 25, about $40 million that Trump Media had raised from investors was converted into shares of the newly public company under the terms of those promissory notes.
The company said that, on an operating basis, it lost $12.1 million in the quarter compared with $3.6 million in 2023. It said that roughly half of this year’s first-quarter operating loss included merger-related costs.
The operating figures reported by Trump Media do not follow generally accepted accounting principles, or GAAP, which is the standard way for reporting financial results. Some companies believe that operating figures can more accurately reflect their financial results because they often exclude some onetime costs and other expenses.
Last year, Trump Media reported losing $58 million and taking in about $4 million in revenue — almost all from advertising on Truth Social.
The $770,000 in advertising revenue during the first quarter works out to just over $3 million on an annualized basis. In its earnings release, Trump Media referred to its “nascent advertising initiative.”
Much of Trump Media’s shares, including the roughly 115 million owned by Mr. Trump, are subject to a six-month lockup that expires in September. A majority of the shares being traded are held by individual investors — many of whom are fans of the former president.
In its earnings release, Trump Media said that its shares were “held by over 621,000 shareholders, the vast majority of whom are retail investors.”
Trump Media released its earnings results after the close of trading, and shares finished down 5 percent, at $48.38.
