Donald Trump’s presidential campaign may be experiencing some recent turbulence, and the same can likely be said about his social media platform, Truth Social.
Trump Media and Technology Group (TMTG), the parent company of Truth Social, released its second quarter 2024 results on Friday, August 9, which showed that the company saw a net loss of $16.4 million for the quarter that ended on June 30, and generated only $837,000 in revenue. The report explains that half of its quarterly losses were due to legal expenses related to the company’s March SPAC merger, which took the company public. More than $3 million also went toward IT and software expenses to launch its TV streaming service, Truth+. The company expects Truth+ to start generating revenue next year.
“In addition to our plans to build out Truth+ with an array of new features, we continue to explore numerous other possibilities for growth, including mergers and acquisitions,” said TMTG CEO Devin Nunes in a company release. “From the beginning, it was our intention to make Truth Social an impenetrable beachhead of free speech, and by taking extraordinary steps to minimize our reliance on Big Tech, that is exactly what we are doing.”
Despite the company’s anticipated revenue and forward-thinking leadership, the numbers haven’t been encouraging. Its first quarter earnings report—the first such report as a public company, released in May—showed that TMTG lost almost $328 million, most of which related to its SPAC merger. Though its net losses have improved, the fact that revenue still amounted to less than $1 million for the second quarter is notable, especially as it’s down from the $1.2 million in revenue it generated during the same quarter last year.
As of Monday morning, TMTG shares (trading under the DJT ticker) were trading at a little more than $25, down roughly 4% from when the market opened. Shares were trading north of $40 on July 15, so share prices have declined almost 38% in recent weeks.
It’s difficult to discern whether Truth Social’s fortunes are necessarily tied to the political fortunes of Trump himself, who finds himself in an incredibly tight race for the presidency against Kamala Harris after incumbent and current president Joe Biden dropped out of the race on July 21. However, TMTG does say in its prospectus that Trump’s political fortunes could impact the company’s value.
“TMTG’s success depends in part on the popularity of our brand and the reputation and popularity of its Chairman, President Trump. The value of TMTG’s brand may diminish if the popularity of President Trump were to suffer,” the company’s S-4 filing reads.
As such, TMTG’s strength may be tied to Trump’s campaign strength over the next few months—but given how many twists and turns the election has already brought about, it’s anyone’s guess as to what happens next.