Ex-President Donald J Trump is grifting like a pro again, after it was revealed that he had suckered an unknown number of his dumb followers and cronies to put up billions to float his fake social media site, Truth Social (sic), on the stock market. The move could net Trump, who retains 58% of stock, billions of dollars. but there are still a few strings attached.
As reported by The Financial Times:
"Donald Trump’s social media business will become publicly listed after shareholders of a blank-cheque company approved the deal, unlocking a potential $3bn windfall for the former US president as he seeks to cover massive legal liabilities.Trump Media & Technology Group, the company behind his Truth Social site, will list on the Nasdaq exchange with the ticker symbol DJT, Trump’s initials, next week....Trump is subject to a lock-up agreement that prevents him from selling his shares for six months, but may be able to use his large stake in the business as collateral to borrow money.He could also seek approval from the merged company’s board, which is set to include his son Donald Trump Jr as well as several officials who served in his administration, to start selling his stake immediately to raise cash."
The deal, which values Truth Social at $5.4 billion, is essentially a massive grift that uses money from small investors and Trump well-wishers to inflate the value of what is a relatively minor and loss-making social media platform.
Recent research from Similarweb estimates that Truth Social had roughly 5 million active users in February this year, including mobile users and website visitors. This compares to more than 2 billion users for TikTok and more than 3.5 billion on Meta's Facebook and Instagram platform.
Meta, with 700 times more active users than Truth Social and which is a firmly established social media company not anchored to a transitory political figure, is valued at $1.3 trillion, which is only 240 times the supposed value of Truth Social in this deal.
Those who will ultimately pay for this ridiculous overvaluation will be Trump's gullible fans or, worse, dark money channelled into US politics in order to have a disruptive effect on America's weak political ecosystem.
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