As of: April 8, 2024, 4:53 a.m
By: Fabian Müller
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There are inconsistencies surrounding former US President Donald Trump's media company. A Russian-born donor is said to have given Trump a generous loan.
New York - Donald Trump's media company Trump Media was only able to go public because a Russian-born businessman financed the company with emergency loans in 2022. This is reported by the British newspaper
Guardian
. According to the report, the financier is Anton Postolnikov, a Russian-American banker close to Russian President Vladimir Putin.
In order to be able to take Trump Media public, the company cooperated with “Digital World”, a shell company that handled the IPO. To survive the merger financially, Trump Media sought financial backers, but most financial institutions declined, the report said.
Russian money for Trump's media company: Businessman Postolnikov, who is close to Putin, gives a loan
In May 2021, the initially unknown company called “ES Family Trust” was found, which processed the loan for eight million dollars via an account at a Dominican bank. The
Guardian
has now obtained documents that are intended to prove that “ES Family Trust” is a shell company owned by the businessman Postolnikov, who registered it in the Russian city of St. Petersburg in 2021.
However, it remains unclear whether Trump and those around him were aware that the money came from Postolnikov. US authorities are currently investigating people close to Postolnikov. His business partner Michael Shwartsman recently confessed to his involvement in insider trading in which he was supposed to earn several million dollars through the IPO of Trump Media. There are also several proceedings against Postolnikov in the USA, and the FBI and Homeland Security are investigating the entrepreneur.
Vladimir Putin and Donald Trump take a G20 group photo together. (Archive image) © dpa/ Lukas Coch
Trump's company is struggling financially
Financially, things are still not going well for Trump Media. Last year, sales were around 4 million US dollars and the loss totaled 58 million dollars, the equivalent of around 54 million euros. The figures published on Monday at least show an improvement in revenue compared to just under $1.5 million in 2022. At that time, thanks to a tax credit, there was an annual profit of $50.5 million. The company operates Trump's social media network Truth Social.
The numbers show that the service continues to struggle to attract advertising revenue. The company's shares nevertheless rose significantly on their stock market debut last week and made Trump several billion richer, at least on paper. The company now warned that it could run out of money due to high losses in its ongoing business. It is a mandatory warning to investors that is common in the USA and is not necessarily followed by bankruptcy. After the figures were published on Monday, the share price temporarily fell by more than a fifth.
(fmu)