Supposedly formed to end Big Tech’s assault on free speech, Donald Trump’s Truth Social has positioned itself as an alternative social media platform.
As of November 2024, Truth Social’s net worth is $6.61 billion, reflecting its growing influence in the alt-tech space.
At Business2Community, we’ve conducted extensive research to deliver a comprehensive account of Truth Social’s net worth and growth. Read on as we explore the platform’s key milestones, controversies, and more.
What Is Truth Social’s Net Worth?
As of November 2024, Truth Social’s parent company, Trump Media & Technology Group (TMTG) has a net worth or market cap of $6.61 billion. This is based on a stock price of $30.49 and 216.92 million shares outstanding.
TMTG’s financial year ends on December 31 and the company releases its financial results in April of the following year.
In April 2023, the former President’s social media platform had an estimated net worth of between $5 million and $25 million based on his personal financial disclosure form when he began his next presidential run.
After its IPO through a SPAC under the stock ticker DJT, TMTG’s net worth hit a staggering $8 billion.
In response to TMTG’s astronomical net worth relative to its revenue, a senior equity analyst at Wedbush Securities, Dan Ives, told CNN:
Fundamentally, the valuation is a head-scratcher but we have seen other meme stock narratives like AMC and Gamestop on similar paths the last few years.
Since then, Trump Media’s value has fluctuated, hitting a low of $2.7 billion in September 2024 and a high of $10 billion in October 2024.
Similarly, Trump Media shares have fluctuated dramatically, even outside of official corporate announcements. TMTG stock rose to a high of $79.38 post-IPO, only to plunge days later. By April, the shares were down to $36, and in September, the share price hit an all-time low of $12.15 per share.
Traders blamed the massive drop on technical issues and a decrease in momentum for the meme stock.
In late October 2024, shares surged by more than 300% to $48, sending TMTG’s valuation past $10 billion — worth more than Elon Musk’s X ($9.4 billion as per the value investment group Fidelity assigned to its stake in the company).
Shares settled at around $30 before election day on November 5, 2024. After Trump’s victory over Vice President Kamala Harris, the share price jumped 30% to around $44 but then fell back to $30.49 by November 22, 2024.
Truth Social Revenue
Truth Social’s revenue has lagged behind its operating expenses, reflecting the platform’s growth challenges. According to regulatory filings, Truth Social’s parent company reported $770,000 in revenue and $327.6 million in losses in the first quarter of 2024, largely resulting from taking the company public.
In Q3 2024, TMTG reported revenue of $1.01 million, up 31% quarter-over-quarter. TMTG also posted a net loss of over $19 million, down 27% compared to the same period in 2023.
For 2023, the company generated just $4.1 million in revenue and posted a loss of $58.2 million. Meanwhile, in 2022, revenue amounted to $1.5 million, with a net profit of $51 million.
Quarter | Revenue ($ millions) | Net Income ($ millions) |
Q3 2024 | 1 | -19.2 |
Q2 2024 | 0.84 | -16.4 |
Q1 2024 | 0.77 | -328 |
Q3 2023 | 1.07 | -26 |
Who Owns Truth Social?
Truth Social is owned by Trump Media & Technology Group (TMTG). As of November 2024, Donald Trump was TMTG’s largest shareholder, with a 57.3% stake valued at around $4 billion. Institutional investors hold relatively small stakes in DJT stock with Vanguard Group owning 1.48% and BlackRock owning just 1.23%.
While he has amassed his wealth through his real estate holdings, Trump’s stake in TMTG accounts for $3.9 billion of his $6 billion net worth.
In October 2021, Trump announced the formation of Trump Media & Technology Group (TMTG) and hisb plans to create a social media app to rival Twitter through a special purpose acquisition company (SPAC) merger with Digital World Acquisition Corp. (DWAC).
In March 2024, the companies merged, taking TMTG public. While TMTG has since grown to include TMTG+ and TMTG News, Truth Social is still the company’s most prominent platform.
Who is the Truth Social CEO?
The CEO of Truth Social is Devin Nunes, who resigned from Congress to head up Trump Media & Technology Group in January 2022. As a dairy farmer who holds qualifications in agriculture, Nunes has no prior experience working in tech or as an executive.
In January 2024, Nunes’ annual compensation was raised to $1 million from $750,000. He was also awarded 115,000 shares with a market value of around $3.2 million based on the November 2024 market data.
Nunes’ tenure has been far from smooth. In October 2024, a whistleblower alleged that the CEO had exposed Truth Social to substantial risk of legal action. While the letter didn’t go into detail, it claimed the CEO’s missteps had already resulted in litigation.
Calling for the firing of Nunes, the letter blasted the CEO for allegedly betraying “America First” principles by imposing a directive to hire only foreign contractors. That same month, top executives at the company were reportedly forced out over concerns about Nunes’ mismanagement.
Truth Social has also struggled with unstable leadership. Following its troubled 2022 app launch, CTO Josh Adams and Chief of Product Development Billy Boozer left the company in under a year. In June 2022, Trump and five others left TMTG’s board shortly before SEC and Manhattan grand jury subpoenas.
Truth Social’s Company History
Truth Social is a social platform that claims that it was created to promote free expression and fight back against censorship by big tech companies. With the help of former Apprentice contestants Wes Moss and Andy Litinsky, Donald Trump launched the platform in 2022. This was soon after the former president was banned from Twitter, Facebook, and YouTube following the Jan. 6, 2021 insurrection at the US Capitol.
In its first month, the app was downloaded 1.04 million times on the Apple App Store. In May 2022, Truth Social announced a six-hour exclusive window on Donald Trump’s messages to help bolster its user base. That same month, downloads peaked at 1.2 million before dropping to around 120,000 in June.
The Truth Social app was initially unavailable to Android users because its content moderation policies did not meet Google Play Store’s standards. In October 2022, after revising its moderation policies, the app was approved and saw over 350,000 downloads.
The planned merger between TMTG and DWAC was delayed for the 6th time in November 2022, resulting in the company seeking a series of loans to keep finances afloat.
This included over $8 million linked to Russian-American businessman Anton Postolnikov, who was deemed a person of interest in a federal insider trading and money laundering investigation.
Throughout 2023, Truth Social continued to face financial and legal woes. In July 2023, Truth Social settled SEC fraud charges for misleading investors and agreed to pay an $18 million fine after its merger with DWAC.
Following SEC investigations, DWAC shareholders voted to extend the company’s merger deadline by a year in September 2023, further putting strain on the company’s finances and delaying its growth plans.
Additionally, despite partnering with Rumble Ads, the platform failed to attract major brands. For the year, Truth Social only booked $2.3 million in sales between June and November, while losing 10 times that amount.
In February 2024, TMTG’s long-delayed merger with DWAC was approved by the SEC. On March 22, DWAC shareholders voted in favor of merging with TMTG. Subsequently, the company made its NASDAQ debut on March 26.
However, an SEC filing released on April 1, 2024, revealed that the company lost $58 million in 2023, sending TMTG shares plummeting by 27%.
In the same filing, the company outlined its plans to expand Truth Social and create a fully integrated media and technology company. This included:
- Expanding Truth Social’s user base
- Creating a home for canceled content creators
- Integrating video and other user-friendly features
- Increasing the platform’s value proposition for advertisers
Overall, in the first 9 months of 2024, Truth Social reported losses of $363 million compared to $2.6 million in revenue.
How Many Users Does Truth Social Have?
According to TMTG’s 2023 annual report, 9 million users have signed up for Truth Social via iOS, Android, and the web since its launch.
The company went on to state that it didn’t collect metrics such as active user count as these were “non-essential” at Truth Social’s current stage of development.
Considered the platform’s most prolific user, Donald Trump had over 7 million followers and posted close to 9,000 posts as of November 2024.
While the user base may be small relative to other social media platforms, it had a strong brand awareness of 25% across surveyed Americans in 2023. For comparison, Facebook has 94% brand awareness and X, formerly Twitter, has 90% awareness. Following Trump’s election as the 47th President in November 2024, this awareness is likely to have increased somewhat.
Truth Social Controversies
Since its launch, Truth Social has faced executive departures, fighting between co-founders, and a host of costly legal issues.
Arguably, the most controversial and damaging issues are the platform’s alleged inconsistencies in moderation and censorship.
Truth Social claims to encourage an “open, free, and honest global conversation without discriminating on the basis of political ideology”. However, reports claim that the platform has banned users for authoring posts that express pro-choice opinions or ridicule Trump, his allies, and right-leaning ideals.
Unlike other social media platforms, Truth Social’s content moderation practices have been accused of lacking transparency, consistency, or nuance. For example, its terms of service allow moderators to ban anyone whose content is deemed “libelous, slanderous, or otherwise objectionable”. Naturally, that doesn’t exactly sound like a
However, during the 2024 White House race, Trump freely used the platform to lash out against his political opponents in posts described as increasingly crude, vulgar, misogynistic, and vindictive. He also lashed out at non-political figures, including megastar Taylor Swift, posting diatribes such as, “I HATE TAYLOR SWIFT.”
Furthermore, before Election Day, Trump posted stylized videos described as misleading and filled with untruthful statements related to immigration, energy, the failed assassination attempt against him, his legal woes, and more.
Instead of promoting diverse opinions and free expression, critics, which even included Trump’s new biggest fan, Elon Musk, have called the platform a “rightwing echo chamber”. Unfortunately, these issues have likely contributed to the platform’s declining user base and the lack of mainstream advertiser interest that has hindered its revenue potential.
As per a Public Citizen report:
It’s not inherently problematic that Truth Social moderates posts, but the lack of transparency could lead users to believe that they are engaging in an open forum when, in reality, they’re in a curated echo chamber. Studies show that Americans generally want clear and transparent content moderation policies. Without that, user frustration with Truth Social is likely to continue growing.
What Can We Learn From Truth Social?
Truth Social is a compelling case study of the power of appealing to a specific segment of consumers and creating a platform that meets their needs. By positioning itself as a free speech platform, it has successfully attracted social media users frustrated by the censorship on major social platforms.
Truth Social’s rise to prominence also highlights the impact of celebrity-backed ventures. In its first three months, the platform attracted over 2 million users and shot to the top of Apple’s list of most downloaded free apps, outperforming other alternative platforms like Parler and Gettr.
While having a company’s brand tied to a public figure can result in rapid growth and adoption, it also presents significant risks, as evidenced by Truth Social’s recent challenges. The company’s success relies heavily on Donald Trump’s popularity and involvement. Any scandals or changes in Trump’s public standing can significantly affect TMTG’s revenues and operations. Even with Donald Trump, one of the most influential people on the planet, at the forefront of the company, it’s still losing an absolutely ridiculous amount of money compared to its revenue.
The reluctance of mainstream advertisers to be linked to the platform reflects the challenges that come with being associated with polarizing or controversial content. Additionally, inconsistent moderation and censorship policies that contradict the platform’s major selling point (free expression), have reduced its broader market appeal and stifled user growth.
If Truth Social is to grow and truly provide “all users with an inviting, nonpartisan ‘Big Tent’ of ideas and a social platform in the spirit of the First Amendment to the United States Constitution”, these issues must be addressed.