Trump’s social media platform – ‘Truth Social’- which is a direct competitive clone of Twitter and his current favourite means of communicating with ‘his public’.
Is it about to become another of his failed businesses?
He vowed that Truth Social would stand up to ‘big tech’ but now faces the prospect of zero growth and financial paralysis
Trump launched Truth Social in February 2022, after he was thrown off of Twitter for inciting violence after he lost the presidential election.
He previously ran a blog, ‘From the Desk of Donald Trump’, but it shut down after less than a month because almost no one was reading it.
Truth Social has fared better as a vehicle for Trump to rile his base and rage against his enemies, and for white nationalists and others on the far right to say what they cannot on Twitter. But it has failed to generate the kind of reach enjoyed by other social media platforms.
Trump has about 4 million followers on Truth Social compared with 80 million on Twitter, in part because its reach has been limited by a ban by Google’s app store for failing to take down posts making physical threats and inciting violence.
Trump Media reported losing $6.5m in the first half of this year. It is also reported to be in debt to a web hosting company.
The Former president’s social media platform is asking shareholders in his Digital World corporation, who actually own large parts of it – for another year to complete a planned merger.
Under the terms of the deal, announced in October 2021 – the Trump Media & Technology Group was destined to merge with Digital World Acquisition Corp, a special-purpose acquisition company, or SPAC.
The deal was intended to take Truth Social public i.e. shares trade-able on the open stock exchanges – a potential near-infinite source of finance – but now faces a crucial shareholder vote at a meeting – just tomorrow – that could determine whether it becomes a multibillion-dollar company or an irrelevance.
Shareholders in Digital World are now being asked to give the company another year to complete the deal. If they refuse to do so at the meeting on 8 September, the enterprise may never become the $1.7bn company which was once envisioned.
P.S.
As one specialist analyst said – “Dogged by an SEC investigation (US Securities & Exchange Commission), the platform may be more of a campaign tool than a sound investment.”
Watch this space.