Donald Trump’s social media platform, Truth Social, is collapsing along with his personal reputation, but it has one advantage: customers stupid enough to pay top dollar for slightly faster access to the president’s messages — or “truths,” in the site’s oxymoronic nomenclature.
On Monday, Trump Media and Technology Group, which owns the service, announced that its revenue increased 205% in the third quarter. Earnings come primarily from its so-called “Truth API,” a feed that gives early access to posts from certain accounts — and let’s be real, people pay for Trump’s — for a price of between $60,000 and $100,000. per month.
The report was called an obvious scam from the moment it was announced and a blatant attempt to profit from the president’s potentially consequential ramblings. Subscribers could theoretically gain an advantage by acting on the effects Trump’s executive orders might have on financial markets before the public hears about them, thereby introducing its own ethical concerns.
But who would be willing to pay over a million dollars a year for such a horrible deal? A handful of Wall Street firms, for example. Reuters reported last month that Susquehanna International Group and Jump Trading were among those that had signed up for access, along with the financial journal and data company. Bloomberg.
Now is the time to put this revenue machine into much-needed context. Trump Media’s incredible 205% increase in quarterly revenue amounts to a paltry $3 million. Truth API accounted for $1.3 million of that amount, suggesting it has fewer than two dozen customers at most. It also earned an additional $523,000 from its “uncensored” streaming service Truth+, meaning almost two-thirds of its quarterly revenue came from its media offerings.
That said, Trump Media continues to make a lot of money – but not from its actual activities. It reported quarterly net income of $409.7 million, the vast majority of which came from its holdings of cryptocurrencies like Bitcoin and related securities.
This does not necessarily reflect a healthy economic model, and the stock market has reflected the uncertainty around Trump and his media company. Shares hit an all-time low below $4.00 last week after Trump’s candidates lost the midterm elections, and the company is currently down 69% for the year.
Read more about Trump: Trump’s Cryptocurrency Investors Are Now Screwed Beyond Belief
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