Trump Media, based in Sarasota, Fla., has just 36 employees and lost $58 million last year, the documents show. Online analytics firm Similarweb estimates that Truth Social’s traffic is less than 1% of that of Reddit, a platform that generated $800 million in revenue last year.
But the stock market frenzy has pushed Trump Media’s value to about $5.5 billion, more than the stock values of Macy’s, Columbia Sportswear and Alaska Airlines, which generate billions in revenue a year.
The Washington Post shared with Trump Media the figures it intends to highlight in this report, all of which are taken from the company’s filings. Trump Media spokesperson Shannon Devine responded in a statement: “Truth Social has just successfully launched as a public company, with an engaged and growing audience of millions of users, so it is It’s no surprise that the Washington Post’s partisan activists – already the target of ongoing lawsuits. action for his defamatory reporting about us – would give rise to this kind of ridiculous hit piece.
Trump Media sued the Post for defamation last year, claiming the news organization incorrectly reported allegations about its funding. A federal judge in Florida recently dismissed the case, but said Trump Media could amend its complaint if it believes it can make a viable claim.
Trump is Trump Media’s largest shareholder, with 57.3% of the company, or 78.7 million shares, or a stake worth about $3.2 billion based on the company’s share price. action closes Friday.
Through an “earnout” clause, Trump stands to receive an additional 36 million shares if the price remains above $17.50 for 20 days, which could happen as early as April 26 and would bring his total stake to 4 .7 billion dollars.
A six-month “lock-up” agreement stipulates that Trump cannot sell or transfer his shares until September 25 – or perhaps a few days earlier, if the stock hits a certain price threshold. Trump could ask the company’s board to waive the requirement, but he has not yet done so. The confinement also applies to company managers and board members.
Three people among the seven members of Trump Media’s board of directors were compensated either in stock, cash, or both.
Devin Nunes, CEO and president of Trump Media, received 115,000 shares, worth about $4.6 million. He received a salary of $750,000 last year, which increased to $1 million this year.
Nunes, a former Republican congressman from California, will also receive a flat $600,000 “retention bonus” this month. A bonus agreement signed by Nunes says the money was intended to help “ensure the continuity” of Trump Media’s business.
Eric Swider, a board member and chief executive of the special purpose acquisition company that merged with Trump Media, and Renatus, his consulting firm in Puerto Rico, received approximately 153,000 shares in the merger agreement, representing a stake worth $6.2 million.
Another board member, Kash Patel, a former Nunes aide who served on Trump’s National Security Council, received $130,000 last year in a consulting deal with his company, Trishul. One filing states that Patel also serves as “national security advisor to (Trump) as a private citizen” and receives payment for that service from Trump’s Save America political action committee.
The other four board members: former Trump trade representative Robert E. Lighthizer; Linda McMahon, former head of Trump’s Small Business Administration; Louisiana attorney W. Kyle Green; and Trump’s son, Donald Trump Jr. — were not paid last year, although one filing said the board might give itself “shares as non-monetary compensation… from time to time time “.
A former board member, Dan Scavino Jr., a longtime Trump aide who ran the White House’s social media operations and now advises Trump’s presidential campaign, received $240,000 a year. last year as part of a consulting deal with his company, Hudson Digital. Scavino will also receive a $600,000 retention bonus this month.
Trump Media also issued a $2.2 million “executive promissory note” to Scavino. The company gave similar promissory notes to other officers, which were automatically converted on the day of the merger into stock. The documents do not specify whether Scavino’s note was converted.
Trump Media CFO Phillip Juhan received 490,000 shares, worth $19.8 million. He received $337,500 last year and his salary increased to $365,000 when the merger closed. He then worked as the financial director of a chain of fitness clubs.
Chief Operating Officer Andrew Northwall received 20,000 shares, worth $812,000. He received $365,000 last year. Previously, he worked at Parler, the social network popular among the pro-Trump rioters at the US Capitol on January 6, 2021.
Juhan and Northwall will also receive $600,000 retention bonuses this month.
Other executives will receive a total of $1.24 million in bonuses. Among them are Chief Technology Officer Vladimir Novachki, who also received 45,000 shares, worth $1.8 million, and General Counsel Scott Glabe, who received 20,000 shares, worth of $812,000. Glabe served as associate counsel in the White House under Trump.
Trump Media co-founders Andy Litinsky and Wes Moss, who met Trump on “The Apprentice” and helped launch the company in 2021, received a total of 7.5 million shares through their partnership, United Atlantic Ventures, a stake worth approximately $304 million.
Arc Global Investments II, the largest founding investor in Digital World Acquisition, the company that merged with Trump Media to take it public, said in a filing that it received 13.3 million shares, worth about $539 million. A previous Trump Media filing indicated that Arc would receive 9.5 million shares.
Arc and Digital World are involved in a dispute over the number of shares owed to Arc. Arc is led by former Digital World chief executive Patrick Orlando.
Trump Media said it has helped fund its operations by issuing 19 convertible notes since 2021 in exchange for loans with a total face value of more than $40 million. Holders of these notes, most of whom are not identified in the filings, can convert the unpaid principal into shares. The company said several of the tickets had been changed or extended since they were issued and that it had an “ongoing disagreement” with a ticket holder over their “diverging interpretations of certain terms.”
The company also said it issued convertible notes to unnamed investors for “working capital purposes” during the final quarter of 2023, and that more than $1 million of notes remained outstanding as of end of the year.
The Trump Media deal is at the center of four ongoing lawsuits, all filed in the past two months:
- Trump Media and Digital World sued Arc and Orlando in Florida, claiming their “irrational and disturbing behavior” had “imposed enormous costs” and caused “significant reputational harm.”
- Litinsky and Moss’ United Atlantic Ventures sued Trump Media in Delaware, claiming Trump pushed a “last-minute stock seizure” that would dilute their shares. Trump is expected to be impeached in that trial this month.
- Arc sued Digital World, its chief executive and three Delaware board members, claiming they worked to deprive Orlando of millions of shares.
- Trump Media sued Moss, Litinsky and Orlando in Florida, accusing the co-founders of mismanaging the company with a “toxic corporate culture” and seeking to force forfeiture of their shares. The Delaware judge in the United Atlantic Ventures lawsuit said during an April 1 hearing that he was “stunned” that Trump Media brought the action while the dispute was already playing out in his court.
Digital World said it spent $19.6 million on “legal investigations” last year, primarily due to its $18 million settlement with the SEC, according to a Trump Media filing.
Trump Media also agreed last year to pay an unnamed law firm $500,000 for its services, the filing says. In November, the company received a $500,000 convertible note with a conversion price of $10 per share; this stake is now worth $2 million.
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