Trump Is Selling Early Access to Social Media Posts. The Gambit Is Starting to Pay Off.
The post-midterm business environment generally hasn’t been kind to Donald Trump’s technology ventures. But this week, the president’s social media firm finally did manage to report a bit of good news. On Monday, Trump Media & Technology Group, the parent company of Truth Social, said in a filing to the Securities and Exchange Commission that […]
Donald Trump's social media venture, Truth Social, has finally seen a modest boost in revenue. In a Securities and Exchange Commission filing, Trump Media & Technology Group, the parent company, revealed that third-quarter revenue grew by 200 percent compared to the previous year. However, despite this positive development, the company's quarterly revenue remains a mere $3 million, with $1.8 million coming from a new service for high-frequency traders on Wall Street.
This exclusive service grants premium access to Trump's posts on Truth Social, ranging from fees as low as $1,000 to as high as $100,000 monthly. While ad revenue has seen a slight uptick, it still lags at approximately $1 million per quarter, falling short of the benchmarks set by other social media giants. Meta, which owns Facebook and Instagram, reported a staggering $64 billion in overall revenue in the third quarter alone.
Trump Media & Technology Group's projections from 2021, when the company was launched as a response to deplatforming from Twitter and Facebook, were highly optimistic, with ambitions of $3.6 billion in annual revenue by 2026. However, the reality has been far less impressive, as Truth Social's user numbers have significantly lagged behind expectations, currently sitting at around 6 million users.
Moreover, the company's revenue stream from streaming media content has failed to materialize, leaving the business largely as a repository for Bitcoin. Bitcoin holdings have reached over 15,000, valued at $1.1 billion. This diversification worked well until the bitcoin crash last year, when the company incurred significant losses.
Despite these setbacks, the company has managed to recoup almost half a billion dollars in gains from digital assets, as the price of Bitcoin partially recovered since August. The company is also in the midst of a merger with a nuclear fusion company, which will be put to a shareholder vote next month. If approved, Trump Media & Technology Group may pivot towards being a nuclear power company with a social media facet.
Written by urgent.news from Mother Jones's reporting — not their text. Machine-written — may contain errors; check the original before relying on it.
