By Lars Mucklejohn
Former US president Donald Trump’s social media firm has reported a $58m loss for 2023, despite its valuation soaring to more than $8bn in its stock market debut last week.
Trump Media & Technology Group, which owns the Truth Social platform, saw just $4m in revenue last year, according to a Securities and Exchange Commission filing on Monday. Its revenue in the final quarter of 2023 fell below $1m.
The company said it paid almost $40m in interest expenses and accrued about $16m in operating losses last year.
The Nasdaq-listed company’s shares fell around 19 per cent on Monday morning in New York following the news. Its market capitalisation is currently around $6.84bn.
The stock, which uses the ticker DJT in a reference to Trump’s initials, has received widespread attention for the gulf between its lofty stock market valuation and the business’ actual performance.
Social media giant Reddit, which debuted on the New York Stock Exchange last week, currently has a market capitalisation just $650m ahead of Trump Media despite making more than $800m in revenue last year and having more than 100 times as many users as Truth Social.
Trump Media, which only makes money through advertising on Truth Social, said the company’s management had “substantial doubt” it would have the funds necessary to “meet its liabilities as they fall due”.
Trump has gained a paper fortune on the back of Trump Media’s Nasdaq debut but is not able to sell his roughly 60 per cent stake for six months.
Meanwhile, he will this week reach his court-mandated deadline to post a reduced $175m bond in his civil fraud case in New York.
Trump Media’s latest filing disclosed that Digital World Acquisition, the special purpose acquisition company it merged with to launch a public listing, paid a $18m fine to the SEC last week.
Trump Media said that as it works to expand its user base, it “expects to continue to incur operating losses and negative cash flows” but that “the overall appeal of the Truth Social Platform” should drive growth.
The company declined to share figures like active users and ad prices, which are often disclosed by social media companies.
