Dem
47
GOP
53
Because Donald Trump's so-called social media company is publicly traded, it is required to file quarterly reports with the SEC. The latest report just dropped, and it is... ghastly.
The company's Q2 revenue was less than $2 million; most of that came from selling ads on Truth Social. Its losses were an almost unbelievable $238 million. They have some debts to service and, apparently, are "investing" in new ventures (such as yet another Trump crypto coin) to try to bring in more cash. The corrupt-as-the-day-is-long "priority" access to Trump's "truths" is already being sold; the company has about a dozen subscribers, each paying between $60,000 and $100,000 per month. That's no small chunk of change, but it's also not much of a dent in $238 million.
In the end, TMTG has one product, namely Truth Social. And Truth Social has only one user that matters, namely Trump. But even he doesn't matter as much as he once did, inasmuch as all he does is re-air the same grievances, over and over and over. Traffic to the site is down 36% over last year, and he's still got more than 2 years as president left to go.
One wonders what Trump's angle is, here. He's the largest shareholder in TMTG; maybe he sold enough stock while the price was high that he doesn't really care what happens next. Alternatively, this might just be a gateway to various grifts. Either way, the company and its social media platform are in a delicate position. They have $1 billion in debt that is theoretically due in 2028, but could be called in as soon as November. Meanwhile, most of the company's assets are in bitcoin, which is not exactly the world's strongest foundation.
At best, TMTG does not seem likely to live on past 2028. Of course, if it does, Trump will likely be more than satisfied. He'll have gotten out of it what he wanted, and surely won't care if it burns to the ground once he's out of office. The interesting thing to see will be if it burns to the ground before he leaves office. Then, he'd probably have to return to his buddy Elon's platform. (Z)