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BBC HomepageSkip to contentAccessibility HelpYour accountNotificationsHomeNewsSportWeatheriPlayerSoundsBitesizeMore menuMore menuSearch BBCHomeNewsSportWeatheriPlayerSoundsBitesizeCBBCCBeebiesFoodClose menuBBC NewsMenuHomeIsrael-Gaza warCost of LivingWar in UkraineClimateUKWorldBusinessPoliticsCultureMoreTechScienceHealthFamily & EducationIn PicturesNewsbeatBBC VerifyDisabilityBusinessMarket DataEconomyYour MoneyCompaniesTechnology of BusinessCEO SecretsArtificial IntelligenceWill Truth Social post a financial bailout for Trump?Published4 hours agoShareclose panelShare pageCopy linkAbout sharingImage source, Getty ImagesBy Natalie ShermanBusiness reporter, New YorkThe share price of Donald Trump’s media company has fallen from last week’s high when it officially listed on the Nasdaq stock exchange. But it is still worth more than $7bn (£5.6bn) at current prices – an astonishing sum given the business behind it. So what is the Truth Social platform, who owns it, how many users does it have, and how much money does it make? And is it the answer to Mr Trump’s spiralling legal bills?What are Trump Media and Truth Social?Trump Media & Technology Group was founded in 2021 after Mr Trump lost the presidential election and was temporarily booted from major social media platforms, including Twitter and Facebook, which accused him of inciting violence. The idea was pitched to him by two men, former contestants on his reality TV show, The Apprentice, who saw an opportunity to create an alternative to the mainstream social media sites.In 2022 Trump Media launched its first – and to date only – product for the public: the social media platform Truth Social.Much of Truth Social’s functionality is identical to X. Users are able to post ‘truths’ or ‘retruths’ as well as send direct messages. Adverts, meanwhile, are called ‘sponsored truths’.How many users does it have?Trump Media claims about 9m Truth Social accounts have been created since its start.It does not disclose how many users it has, but research firm SimilarWeb estimates that Truth Social had 5m monthly website visits in February this year. By comparison, TikTok received more than 2bn visits, while Facebook had more than 3bn. X had 104m visits in February, SimilarWeb reported.Mr Trump has roughly 7m followers on Truth Social, far fewer than the 87m he has on X. The former president’s X account was reinstated towards the end of 2022, but he has only posted once since then.How much money does it make?It doesn’t. Trump Media lost nearly $60m in 2023, while bringing in only about $4m in revenue from advertising, according to its latest financial update, which also warned of “substantial doubt” about its ability to continue as a business. The report was another reminder of the considerable disconnect between the finances of the company and its stock price, which puts its value at around $7bn.As a gauge, in 2013, when Twitter listed on the stock market, it reported $660m in revenue and had a market value of roughly $24bn. By 2021, the year before Elon Musk bought Twitter for $44bn, that figure had grown to more than $5bn.What does Trump do for the company?Mr Trump’s relationship with the firm is a bit like the licensing deals that he used in his property empire, in which he signed over his name for the promotion of a business run primarily by others. In this case, Mr Trump has also agreed to post non-political messages first on Truth Social.The other difference is that this deal did not yield a stream of automatic licensing fees – instead, Mr Trump was paid by being given shares in the new start-up.So who owns it?Trump Media, which is led by former Republican congressman Devin Nunes, was originally a private company, and Mr Trump owned 90% of it.It went public in March 2024 via what is known as a SPAC – basically, it was acquired by a company whose shares were already trading publicly on the stock market, in this case, Digital World Acquisition Corp.Mr Trump now owns about 57% of shares in the combined firm, which was renamed Trump Media and trades under the DJT ticker – Mr Trump’s initials.Image source, Getty ImagesThe next biggest owner of TMTG is the Kuwaiti-headquartered investment firm ARC Global Investments, which has a 6.9% stake, according to Trump Media filings with financial regulators. The former Apprentice contestants also have a sizable stakes, though those holdings are currently subject to legal fights. Overall, insiders own about 70% of the stock. Who else owns the stock?When Trump Media announced its plans to go public in 2021, the news prompted small-time investors to snap up shares of Digital World, helping to pump up its price and drawing comparisons to pandemic-era meme stocks. At the end of 2023, big financial firms owned only about 5% of Digital World stock, far less than is typical, implying everyday investors had the bulk of the rest. With the merger complete, those individuals now also own a significant chunk of Trump Media, though just how much is not known exactly. Conversations in online forums suggest at least some of those shareholders see their stock purchase as a bet on Mr Trump and a way to support him as his legal troubles, and the bills that accompany them, pile up. Mr Trump has been ordered to pay more than $350m in damages in a civil fraud case, with interest charges potentially adding another $100m.So will this solve Donald Trump’s financial problems? After the merger was completed, Mr Trump saw his net worth more than double to over $5bn overnight, according to Forbes.Mr Trump is barred from selling his roughly 78m shares for six months, unless the company decides to grant him a waiver. But he stands to earn a windfall should he decide to cash in – even if the price drops sharply, as many analysts predict.Shares in Digital World, now Trump Media, have swung wildly since 2021 and are expected to continue to do so. They popped to more than $70 apiece when Trump Media formally debuted on 26 March. They have since fallen and are trading around $50 apiece, which makes Mr Trump’s stake worth $4.1bn. But that is about where they were the day before the launch and three times what Digital World shares were worth at the start of 2024.Even if they were to fall to $1 apiece in six months, Mr Trump could still raise more than $78m by selling.Related TopicsSocial mediaInternational BusinessStock marketsDonald TrumpUS politicsUnited StatesMore on this storyTrump posts $175m bond in New York fraud casePublished16 hours agoDonald Trump media firm soars in stock market debutPublished26 MarchTop StoriesThree British aid workers killed in Gaza namedPublished13 minutes agoWhat we know about the aid convoy strikePublished5 hours agoLive. 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Now they are on Instagram
[ad_1] Trump Media lost nearly $60m last year. So how is it worth billions? We explain the ex-president’s windfall.
![BBC HomepageSkip to contentAccessibility HelpYour accountNotificationsHomeNewsSportWeatheriPlayerSoundsBitesizeMore menuMore menuSearch BBCHomeNewsSportWeatheriPlayerSoundsBitesizeCBBCCBeebiesFoodClose menuBBC NewsMenuHomeIsrael-Gaza warCost of LivingWar in UkraineClimateUKWorldBusinessPoliticsCultureMoreTechScienceHealthFamily & EducationIn PicturesNewsbeatBBC VerifyDisabilityWorldAfricaAsiaAustraliaEuropeLatin AmericaMiddle EastUS & CanadaFears of disruption to global supply chains after Baltimore bridge crashPublished13 minutes agoShareclose panelShare pageCopy linkAbout sharingThis video can not be playedTo play this video you need to enable JavaScript in your browser.Media caption, Tracking data shows the path of the Dali container towards the bridgeBy Christy CooneyBBC NewsFears have been raised of significant disruption to global supply chains after a container ship crashed into a bridge in the US city of Baltimore.The ship, named the Dali, hit a support column of the Francis Scott Key Bridge in the early hours of Tuesday morning, causing it to collapse. The bridge spanned the entrance to the Port of Baltimore, the busiest port in the US for car exports and the ninth-busiest overall. Six people are missing presumed dead.Officials have said that maritime traffic through the port – which last year amounted to more than 47 million tonnes of foreign cargo – will be suspended “until further notice”. Speaking to the BBC, Marco Forgione, director general at The Institute of Export and International Trade, which represents UK businesses involved in international trade, said the suspension would have a “significant ripple effect on global supply chains”.”Over 750,000 cars and vehicles transited through Baltimore in the last year,” he told Radio 4’s The World Tonight. “Those are major US brands and UK and EU brands, from General Motors and Ford to [Jaguar Land Rover], Nissan, Fiat, and Audi.”In addition, Baltimore is a significant exporter of liquified natural gas [LNG] and that has implications for the UK and the EU. “Something around half a million tonnes of LNG leave Baltimore per month, so the implications of what’s happened are significant and will cascade before we’re able to get Baltimore back up and running again.”As well as maritime traffic, the Port of Baltimore is directly responsible for some 15,000 jobs and supports an estimated 140,000 more. Following the accident, Danish shipping giant Maersk, whose cargo the Dali was carrying, said it would be “omitting Baltimore on all our services for the foreseeable future”.A number of rail and coal companies have also warned their customers of disruption to coal exports. US Secretary of Transportation Pete Buttigieg said at a briefing there was “no question that this will be a major and protracted impact to supply chains”. “It’s too soon to offer estimates on what it will take to clear the channel and reopen the port,” he said.President Biden told reporters that the US government would “move heaven and earth to reopen the port and rebuild the bridge as soon as humanly possible”, but added that the process was going to “take some time.”Image source, ReutersThe exact cause of the crash is still being established, but officials have said the ship suffered a “power issue” and issued a distress call before hitting the bridge. Authorities closed the bridge to car traffic when they received the call, but a number of vehicles that were already on the bridge fell into the water when it collapsed.A huge search and rescue effort ran through much of Tuesday, with two people pulled from the water, one of them in a serious condition. The six people who remain missing were part of an overnight construction crew that was repairing potholes, authorities said. Watch: Moment Baltimore bridge collapses after being hit by shipLost power, mayday call and crash before Baltimore bridge collapse What we know about the Baltimore bridge collapseThe Maritime and Port Authority of Singapore, where the Dali was flagged, said the ship’s certificates covering its structural integrity and the functionality of its equipment were valid at the time of the incident. It also said the ship had passed two separate foreign port state inspections in June and September 2023.Synergy Marine Group, which manages the Dali, said there were 22 people on the ship, including an all-Indian crew and two US harbour pilots, but no reports of any injuries.It added that it was “fully co-operating” with federal agencies.Related TopicsBaltimoreShipping containersUnited StatesTop StoriesPublic satisfaction with NHS at lowest ever levelPublished5 hours agoSupply chain fears after Baltimore bridge crashPublished13 minutes agoWales miss out on Euros after Poland shootout defeatAttributionSportPublished7 hours agoFeaturesLost power, mayday call and crash before Baltimore bridge collapseHow a US bridge collapsed after being struck by a ship. 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