Donald Trump's media company has lost over 60 percent of its value since going public. The announcement of a streaming service caused prices to fall instead of rise.
New York City – Former US President Donald Trump is more than $3 billion poorer compared to March – at least on paper. The stock market price of the media company Trump Media & Technology Group (TMTG) recently fell significantly. The announcement of a streaming service initially did not bring the hoped-for turnaround.
Trump's media company on the stock market: brilliant start, brilliant collapse
TMTG is the company behind the social network “Truth Social,” which Trump founded after his expulsion from Twitter (now X). In March, TMTG went public and got off to a brilliant start: at one point the price was quoted at $79 on the first day of trading, more than 58 percent above the opening price of $49.95. Based on Trump's initials, the share was launched on the US electronic stock exchange Nasdaq under the symbol DJT. The market value was at a record high in March of 8.97 billion US dollars (around 8.43 billion euros). The former US president himself owns 57 percent of the media startup, according to company information.
At their peak, these shares were worth 5.11 billion US dollars (around 4.8 billion euros), but have recently fallen significantly. On Tuesday, the market value at the close of trading was still 3.12 billion US dollars (around 2.93 billion euros) - a loss of 65 percent, as
Business Insider
reported. That corresponds to a loss of around three billion US dollars in just a few weeks. Price fluctuations on the stock market are generally normal. There can only be talk of an actual loss of assets when they are realized. However, the share price is currently significantly below the issue price.
Trump's media company Truth Social announces streaming service - and share price falls
On Monday, TMTG's share prices plummeted again. It had become public that insiders, including Donald Trump, may be able to sell their shares early, as
Business Insider
reported. There is actually a six-month blocking period for this. In addition, TMTG had applied for the issuance of more than 21 million shares. Proceedings against Trump also began on Monday, in which the Republican is accused of having falsified business documents in order to conceal hush money payments to a former porn actress.
TMTG's share prices also reacted negatively to an announcement by the company that it wanted to launch a streaming service. “We look forward to launching the next big phase of Truth Social,” said a press release from TMTG CEO Devin Nunes on Tuesday. According to the company, the service will focus on news, religion and “family-friendly” films and documentaries.
Trump's media company publishes figures: high losses, low sales
At the beginning of April, Trump Media & Technology Group published figures that showed sales of around $4 million and a loss of $58 million. The numbers suggest that the media company continues to find it difficult to conclude attractive advertising deals. TMTG warned of a lack of liquidity in view of the high losses in ongoing business. However, according to the German Press Agency, this is a mandatory warning to investors that is common in the USA and does not necessarily have to be followed by bankruptcy.
The Republican's lawyers said in March that Trump would be unable to pay the nearly half-billion-dollar bail in his business fraud trial in New York. An appeals court soon reduced bail to $175 million. The US magazine
Forbes
recently estimated Trump's fortune at 2.6 billion US dollars, but a large part of it was tied up in real estate
(bme with dpa).