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Trump Media losses surge as it hands staff $107M in stock

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The Truth Social app on a smartphone arranged in New York, US, on Friday, March 22, 2024. Shareholders of Digital World Acquisition Corp., a publicly traded shell company, approved a deal to merge with the Trump's media business in a Friday vote. That means Trump Media & Technology Group, whose flagship product is social networking site Truth Social, will soon begin trading on the Nasdaq stock market, reported the AP. (Gabby Jones/Bloomberg)

Trump Media & Technology Group Corp. rewarded employees with more than $107 million in stock last year as revenue declined and it posted a $401 million loss.

The company, which runs Truth Social, ended December with 29 full-time staff, according to an annual report posted after markets closed Friday. Revenue slipped more than 12 per cent to $3.6 million while its annual loss swelled more than six-fold.

The results boosted the venture’s accumulated deficit to $2.9 billion.

Created from a blank-check merger in March, Trump Media’s largest shareholder is President Donald J. Trump, whose stake is held in a trust managed by his son Donald Trump Jr.

Despite losses, the company’s shares trade akin to so-called meme stocks that move independently of underlying financial results. The price almost doubled last year as the 45th US president successfully campaigned to retake the White House.

The company used $61 million in cash for its operating activities, and the majority of the overall net loss stemmed from a change in the value of a derivative liability.

Trump’s stake in the company was worth $3.5 billion on Friday.

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