Trump Media, based mostly in Sarasota, Fla., has solely 36 staff and misplaced $58 million final 12 months, the filings present. The on-line analytics agency Similarweb estimates that Truth Social’s site visitors is lower than 1 p.c of Reddit’s, a platform that acquired $800 million in income final 12 months.
But a stock-market frenzy has supersized Trump Media’s worth to about $5.5 billion — greater than the market values of Macy’s, Columbia Sportswear and Alaska Airlines, which make billions in income a 12 months.
The Washington Post shared with Trump Media the numbers it supposed to spotlight on this report, all of which have been taken from the corporate’s filings. Trump Media spokeswoman Shannon Devine responded in a press release: “Truth Social just successfully launched as a public company, with a committed and expanding audience of millions of users, so it’s no surprise the partisan activists at The Washington Post — already the target of ongoing legal action for its defamatory reporting on us — would gin up this sort of ridiculous hit piece.”
Trump Media sued The Post for defamation final 12 months, saying the information group had reported incorrectly on allegations regarding its financing. A federal choose in Florida lately dismissed the case however mentioned Trump Media might amend its grievance if it believes it may well state a viable declare.
Trump is Trump Media’s greatest shareholder, with 57.3 p.c of the corporate, or 78.7 million shares — a stake value about $3.2 billion based mostly on the inventory’s closing value Friday.
Through an “earnout” provision, Trump stands to obtain one other 36 million shares if the value stays above $17.50 for 20 days, which might occur as quickly as April 26 and would elevate his complete stake to $4.7 billion.
A six-month “lockup” settlement says Trump can’t promote or switch his shares till Sept. 25 — or probably a couple of days earlier, if the inventory hits a sure value threshold. Trump might ask the corporate’s board to waive that requirement however has but to accomplish that. The lockup additionally applies to firm executives and board members.
Three folks on Trump Media’s seven-member board of administrators have been compensated with both inventory or money or each.
Devin Nunes, Trump Media’s chief government and president, acquired 115,000 shares, value about $4.6 million. He was paid a $750,000 wage final 12 months that elevated to $1 million this 12 months.
Nunes, a former Republican congressman from California, additionally will obtain a $600,000 lump-sum “retention bonus” this month. A bonus settlement signed by Nunes mentioned the cash was designed to assist “ensure the continuity” of Trump Media’s enterprise.
Board member Eric Swider, who was chief government of the particular function acquisition firm that merged with Trump Media, and Renatus, his consulting agency in Puerto Rico, acquired about 153,000 shares as a part of the merger deal, a stake value $6.2 million.
Another board member, Kash Patel, a former Nunes aide who served on Trump’s National Security Council, was paid $130,000 final 12 months as a part of a consulting settlement along with his firm, Trishul. A submitting says Patel additionally serves as a “national security adviser to [Trump] as a private citizen” and receives fee for that service from Trump’s Save America political motion committee.
The different 4 board members — Trump’s former commerce consultant Robert E. Lighthizer; Trump’s former Small Business Administration chief Linda McMahon; the Louisiana lawyer W. Kyle Green; and Trump’s son Donald Trump Jr. — weren’t paid final 12 months, although a submitting mentioned the board might give itself “stock as non-cash compensation … from time to time.”
One former board member, Dan Scavino Jr., a longtime Trump aide who led his White House’s social media operation and is now advising Trump’s presidential marketing campaign, was paid $240,000 final 12 months via a consulting settlement along with his firm, Hudson Digital. Scavino will even obtain a $600,000 retention bonus this month.
Trump Media additionally issued a $2.2 million “executive promissory note” to Scavino. The firm gave related promissory notes to different executives, which routinely transformed on the day of the merger into inventory. The filings don’t specify whether or not Scavino’s word was transformed.
Trump Media’s chief monetary officer, Phillip Juhan, acquired 490,000 shares, value $19.8 million. He was paid $337,500 final 12 months, and his wage jumped to $365,000 when the merger closed. He final labored because the finance chief of a sequence of health golf equipment.
Chief working officer Andrew Northwall acquired 20,000 shares, value $812,000. He was paid $365,000 final 12 months. Previously he labored at Parler, the social community that was well-liked amongst pro-Trump rioters on the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021.
Juhan and Northwall additionally will obtain $600,000 retention bonuses this month.
Other executives will obtain a complete of $1.24 million in bonuses. They embody chief expertise officer Vladimir Novachki, who additionally acquired 45,000 shares, value $1.8 million, and common counsel Scott Glabe, who acquired 20,000 shares, value $812,000. Glabe served as an affiliate White House counsel underneath Trump.
Trump Media co-founders Andy Litinsky and Wes Moss, who met Trump on “The Apprentice” and helped launch the enterprise in 2021, acquired a mixed 7.5 million shares via their partnership, United Atlantic Ventures, a stake value about $304 million.
Arc Global Investments II, the most important founding investor in Digital World Acquisition, the corporate that merged with Trump Media to take it public, mentioned in a submitting it acquired 13.3 million shares, value about $539 million. A earlier submitting by Trump Media mentioned Arc would obtain 9.5 million shares.
Arc and Digital World are concerned in a authorized dispute concerning what number of shares Arc is owed. Arc is managed by Digital World’s former chief government Patrick Orlando.
Trump Media mentioned it had helped fund its operations by issuing 19 convertible notes since 2021 in change for loans with a complete face worth of greater than $40 million. The holders of these notes, most of whom the filings don’t determine, can convert the unpaid principal into inventory. The firm mentioned a number of of the notes had been amended or prolonged since they have been issued, and that it had an “ongoing disagreement” with one noteholder over their “differing interpretations of certain terms.”
The firm additionally mentioned it had issued convertible notes to unnamed traders for “working capital purposes” over the past quarter of 2023, and that greater than $1 million of the notes remained excellent by the tip of the 12 months.
The Trump Media deal sits on the heart of 4 ongoing lawsuits, all of which have been filed throughout the final two months:
- Trump Media and Digital World sued Arc and Orlando in Florida, saying their “irrational and disturbing behavior” had “imposed massive costs” and brought on “extensive reputational harm.”
- Litinsky and Moss’ United Atlantic Ventures sued Trump Media in Delaware, saying Trump had pushed a “last-minute stock grab” that might dilute their shares. Trump is scheduled to be deposed in that lawsuit this month.
- Arc sued Digital World, its chief government and three board members in Delaware, saying they’d labored to deprive Orlando of millions of shares.
- Trump Media sued Moss, Litinsky and Orlando in Florida, accusing the co-founders of mismanaging the corporate with a “toxic corporate culture” and in search of to pressure the forfeiture of their shares. The Delaware choose within the United Atlantic Ventures lawsuit mentioned at a listening to April 1 that he was “gobsmacked” that Trump Media filed this swimsuit when the dispute was already taking part in out in his court docket.
Digital World mentioned it spent $19.6 million on “legal investigations” final 12 months, principally due to its $18 million settlement with the SEC, a Trump Media submitting reveals.
Trump Media additionally agreed final 12 months to pay an unnamed regulation agency $500,000 for companies, the submitting mentioned. In November, the agency was issued a $500,000 convertible word with a conversion value of $10 per share; that stake is value $2 million right now.
