Trump Media shares plunge after company reports $58 million loss in 2023

Former President Trump’s social media company plunged in the stock market after reporting a $58 million annual loss in Monday regulatory filings.

Shares of Trump Media & Technology Group, the parent company of Trump’s Truth Social platform, closed with a loss of 21.4 percent Monday. The price of a share dropped to $48.66 by the end of trading Monday, falling $13.30 from its opening price of $59.83

Trump Media merged with “blank check” company Digital World Acquisition Corp. (DWAC) in March, allowing Trump’s social media company to become publicly traded. DWAC shares closed at just less than $50 the day before the newly combined company hit the stock market.

The nosedive in Trump Media shares came after the company reported a loss of $58 million last year in Monday filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). Trump Media made $4.1 million in revenue in 2023 — and roughly $750,000 in the fourth quarter of 2023 — compared to $16 million spent on operating expenses and $39.4 million on interest expenses, according to the filing.

Trump Media “expects to continue to incur operating losses and negative cash flows from operating activities for the foreseeable future, as it works to expand its user base, attracting more platform partners and advertisers,” the company said in the Monday filing.

“TMTG’s ability to become profitable and generate positive cash flow depends on TMTG’s success in growing its user base, platform partners, and advertisers,” the company continued, adding that it has begun testing video streaming and other content-hosting capabilities to expand its appeal and use.

“Given these uncertainties, TMTG believes it is premature for TMTG to predict when it will attain profitability and positive cash flows from its operations,” the company said.

Trump Media had a strong stock market debut, reaching a share price of $79.38 on its first day of trading. But by Thursday, the last day of trading for the week before the Easter holiday, the company’s stock price had settled near $62 a share.

Experts have raised doubts about Trump Media’s long-term viability given the gulf between its expenses and revenues, arguing it has shown characteristics of a “meme stock.”

Shannon Devine, a Truth Social spokesperson, told The Hill last week, “With its transition into a public company, Truth Social aims to robustly expand and enhance the platform, while vehemently defending the free speech rights of our users. We are leading an entire movement to reassert free expression in the digital space.”

Updated at 4:03 p.m. EDT.