Trump makes April Fools’ jokes, and his media company reports disastrous numbers
Donald Trump
Source: AFP/ALMOND NGAN
Donald Trump’s social network “Truth Social” has had an extremely positive start on the stock market. Now there are official figures: The company made heavy losses on sales of four million dollars in 2023. And Trump sends his supporters into April with an announcement.
DLast year, former US President Donald Trump’s media company posted a loss of around $58 million (around 54 million euros today) on sales of around four million US dollars. The Trump Media & Technology Group (TMTG) figures published on Monday at least show an improvement in revenue compared to just under $1.5 million in 2022.
At that time, thanks to a tax credit, there was an annual profit of $50.5 million. The company operates Trump’s social media network Truth Social.
The numbers show that the service continues to struggle to attract advertising revenue. The company’s shares nevertheless rose significantly on their stock market debut last week and made Trump several billion richer, at least on paper. The company now warned that it could run out of money due to high losses in its ongoing business. It is a mandatory warning to investors that is common in the USA and is not necessarily followed by bankruptcy.
After the figures were published on Monday, the share price temporarily fell by more than a fifth. The share is listed on the stock exchange under the abbreviation DJT – based on Trump’s initials. Because Trump is the largest stockholder with 60 percent, he “lost” more than a billion dollars in one day – on paper.
As a candidate for the US presidency, Trump briefly shocked his supporters on Monday. “I am ending my campaign,” he announced. In fact, it was an April Fool’s joke with which he wanted to solicit further donations for his election campaign. The former US president, who wants to drive Democrat Joe Biden from the White House, sent this short message with a link to his voters via email and SMS.
The link led to a website asking for campaign donations of $5, $500 or $3,300. “You really thought I was going to end my campaign? April, April!”, it says in capital letters.
For several years, voters in the United States have been inundated with text messages, emails and calls – sometimes more than a dozen a day – inviting them to financially support candidates. The campaign teams are forced to constantly come up with original fundraising appeals in order to stand out from the crowd. Trump’s campaign coffers are currently less well-filled than those of incumbent Biden.