- The company’s shares fell at the open to $59 and fell below $50 on Monday.
- Critics have called it a ‘meme’ stock whose value dwarfs its earnings.
- Trump’s bet was still more than $4 billion
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Donald Trump’s media company lost $58 million last year, according to a new media filing, as skeptics said the billion-dollar company had the hallmarks of a ‘meme’ stock.
The company earned $4.1 million in revenue by 2023, according to the new filing. This comes after Trump’s stock soared to an $8 billion valuation when he made his NASDAQ debut, even as watchdog groups warned it was a meme stock that raised ethical concerns.
The company was valued at around $7.5 billion on Monday morning following the report’s release, with share prices falling below $50 after peaking at nearly $75 last week.
The stock was trading at nearly $60 per share in early trading after the Easter holiday, then fell to a low of $53, down about 15 percent. It fell below $50 after noon.
Former President Donald Trump’s stake in Trump Media is valued at more than $4 billion. But he is prevented from selling the shares of his within a six-month lock-up period.
This came after a weekend in which Trump was busy posting on Truth Social more than 70 times, from one post wishing his political enemies a “happy Easter” to others attacking the judge in his New York fraud trial. York and the daughter of the judge who presided over the Stormy Daniels case.
The company began trading last week under the symbol DJT (Trump’s initials) after its merger with Digital World Acquisition Corp.
By contrast, Reddit, the technology company that went public days before Trump’s firm, had around $800 million in revenue.
Trump’s Truth Social platform received 277,000 visitors on Tuesday when it debuted. It had about 5 million monthly users in February, according to research firm Similarweb, compared to about 2 billion for TikTok.
Trump owns about 57 percent of the company, although he cannot sell shares for a period of six months unless the company’s board of directors, packed with Trump loyalists, votes to allow a sale.
The stock price fell steadily on Monday morning.
Others who have signed “locking” agreements include former Trump adviser Dan Scavino, former Rep. Devin Nunes, who is the company’s CEO, Donald Trump, Jr., and former Pentagon aide Kash Patel.
Board members who could greenlight sales include wrestling executive Linda McMahon, Patel and former U.S. Trade Representative Robert Lighthizer, although any move could expose them to lawsuits if they are found to be unavailable. acting in the interests of shareholders.
Trump’s still-massive bet comes as he faces continued financial pressures amid his four criminal trials. A New York appeals court reduced his court award to $175 in his fraud trial and gave her 10 days to pay the amount pending his appeal or obtain bail. The deadline arrives this week.