Trump takes $2bn hit as Truth Social stock slumps

DONALD TRUMP has suffered a $2bn blow to his wealth after shares in his company Truth Social plunged by almost a quarter.

Trump Media & Technology Group (TMTG), the parent company of Mr Trump’s social media platform, saw its stock tumble after revealing it lost $58m (£46m) last year on revenues of just $4.1m. That compares with a market value of $6.3bn.

The company also warned of a “substantial doubt that TMTG will have sufficient funds to meet its liabilities as they fall due”. The financial disclosures led to a sell-off that saw shares in TMTG drop by about 24pc.

It comes only a week after the company began trading on the Nasdaq following a merger with a listed cash shell. Shares in TMTG soared by more than 50pc after the deal completed and it began trading under the ticker DJT.

Truth Social had published only limited details about its financial performance last year ahead of the completion of the merger. When TMTG debuted, the share price surge had propelled Mr Trump into the ranks of the world’s 500 richest people, thanks to his 57.3pc stake in the company.

However, the collapse in the share price reduced the value of his position in TMTG from about $5.5bn last week to about $3.5bn as of yesterday evening.

Mr Trump is unable to sell any shares in the company for six months under the terms of the listing agreement. The value of his stake has been seen as a key financial lifeline. He is facing mounting legal and financial difficulties, including a criminal trial over “hush money” payments to Stormy Daniels, a porn star, ahead of the 2016 election.

Mr Trump was handed a $454m fine for fraudulently inflating his net worth, although that penalty was reduced.

Truth Social was founded by Mr Trump in 2021 after the former president was banned from Twitter (now X) in the wake of the Jan 6 attack on the Capitol by his supporters.

His account was reinstated following Elon Musk’s $44bn takeover of Twitter in 2022, but he has only posted on it once since. Truth Social styles itself as an alternative to Twitter and other platforms like Facebook, but with less moderation, describing itself as a “big tent” platform with a focus on free speech.

In a filing, TMTG said that “adhering to traditional key performance indicators, such as sign-ups, average revenue per user, ad impressions and pricing, or active user accounts including monthly and daily active users, could potentially divert its focus” away from growth.

While Mr Trump is not a director of the company, his son, Donald Trump Jr, sits on its board.

TMTG was approached for comment.