Donald Trump’s whole brand runs on the perception that he is a brilliant businessman, yet his businesses have failed many times over. Truth Social, Trump’s social media experiment, has lost over $35 million since it began in 2021.
After getting kicked off all other social media sites for inciting violence against elected officials, Trump started his own social media company to be the conservative answer to Twitter. With Truth Social as the flagship venture, Trump Media & Technology Group (TMTG) would take over the internet with Trumpian lies and “truths.” They even planned to have a channel of conservative stand-up comedy and Trump-inspired content. It sounds like a complete nightmare. Lucky for us, since its founding in early 2021, not much has happened with this tech startup.
Trump fails again
As reported by The Hollywood Reporter, it looks like Truth Social and TMTG are a financial disaster. TMTG and Truth Social’s financials were revealed through the disclosure connected to a merger with Digital World Acquisition Corp. Since its start, the group has brought in about $3.7 million in revenue, losing over $30 million overall. “When putting aside the value of the derivative liability, the company has lost $60.5 million since it launched. If you include the value of the derivative liability, you would get a loss of $31.5 million.” The filing also made it clear that there’s “substantial doubt” about the company’s growth and success.
Originally, TMTG had an estimated value of $875 million, but Trump’s own disclosure forms estimate his controlling shares to be worth “between $5 million and $25 million.” It seems like nothing connected with Truth Social is lucrative or truthful. The filing also found, as of 2023, that many TMTG projects were put on hold. Layoffs also occurred in many departments.
Business risks of TMTG outlined in the filing focused on Donald Trump himself. As the chairman and president of the company, Trump’s image and the company are intertwined. However, under his current legal troubles, he poses a huge risk. Recently, other Trump businesses have faced hardships. Trump’s Atlantic City casino filed for bankruptcy. Trump Vodka and Trump Shuttle went out of business. All of these failures make Truth Social and TMTG look like a financial loss rather than a money-making business. As Trump has a history of filing for bankruptcy in his business and shady tax practices, I’m not exactly shocked that he failed once again.
(via The Hollywood Reporter, featured image: David Dee Delgado/Getty Images)
