Trump Media, based mostly in Sarasota, Fla., has solely 36 workers and misplaced $58 million final 12 months, the filings present. The web analytics agency Similarweb estimates that Reality Social’s site visitors is lower than 1 % of Reddit’s, a platform that obtained $800 million in income final 12 months.
However a stock-market frenzy has supersized Trump Media’s worth to about $5.5 billion — greater than the market values of Macy’s, Columbia Sportswear and Alaska Airways, which make billions in income a 12 months.
The Washington Publish shared with Trump Media the numbers it supposed to focus on on this report, all of which have been taken from the corporate’s filings. Trump Media spokeswoman Shannon Devine responded in an announcement: “Reality Social simply efficiently launched as a public firm, with a dedicated and increasing viewers of tens of millions of customers, so it’s no shock the partisan activists at The Washington Publish — already the goal of ongoing authorized motion for its defamatory reporting on us — would gin up this kind of ridiculous hit piece.”
Trump Media sued The Publish for defamation final 12 months, saying the information group had reported incorrectly on allegations regarding its financing. A federal decide in Florida lately dismissed the case however stated Trump Media might amend its grievance if it believes it might state a viable declare.
Trump is Trump Media’s greatest shareholder, with 57.3 % of the corporate, or 78.7 million shares — a stake price about $3.2 billion based mostly on the inventory’s closing value Friday.
By way of an “earnout” provision, Trump stands to obtain one other 36 million shares if the worth stays above $17.50 for 20 days, which might occur as quickly as April 26 and would elevate his complete stake to $4.7 billion.
A six-month “lockup” settlement says Trump can’t promote or switch his shares till Sept. 25 — or presumably just a few days earlier, if the inventory hits a sure value threshold. Trump might ask the corporate’s board to waive that requirement however has but to take action. The lockup additionally applies to firm executives and board members.
Three folks on Trump Media’s seven-member board of administrators have been compensated with both inventory or money or each.
Devin Nunes, Trump Media’s chief government and president, obtained 115,000 shares, price about $4.6 million. He was paid a $750,000 wage final 12 months that elevated to $1 million this 12 months.
Nunes, a former Republican congressman from California, additionally will obtain a $600,000 lump-sum “retention bonus” this month. A bonus settlement signed by Nunes stated the cash was designed to assist “make sure the continuity” of Trump Media’s enterprise.
Board member Eric Swider, who was chief government of the particular function acquisition firm that merged with Trump Media, and Renatus, his consulting agency in Puerto Rico, obtained about 153,000 shares as a part of the merger deal, a stake price $6.2 million.
One other board member, Kash Patel, a former Nunes aide who served on Trump’s Nationwide Safety Council, was paid $130,000 final 12 months as a part of a consulting settlement along with his firm, Trishul. A submitting says Patel additionally serves as a “nationwide safety adviser to [Trump] as a non-public citizen” and receives fee for that service from Trump’s Save America political motion committee.
The opposite 4 board members — Trump’s former commerce consultant Robert E. Lighthizer; Trump’s former Small Enterprise Administration chief Linda McMahon; the Louisiana lawyer W. Kyle Inexperienced; and Trump’s son Donald Trump Jr. — weren’t paid final 12 months, although a submitting stated the board might give itself “inventory as non-cash compensation … every so often.”
One former board member, Dan Scavino Jr., a longtime Trump aide who led his White Home’s social media operation and is now advising Trump’s presidential marketing campaign, was paid $240,000 final 12 months by a consulting settlement along with his firm, Hudson Digital. Scavino can even obtain a $600,000 retention bonus this month.
Trump Media additionally issued a $2.2 million “government promissory observe” to Scavino. The corporate gave related promissory notes to different executives, which mechanically transformed on the day of the merger into inventory. The filings don’t specify whether or not Scavino’s observe was transformed.
Trump Media’s chief monetary officer, Phillip Juhan, obtained 490,000 shares, price $19.8 million. He was paid $337,500 final 12 months, and his wage jumped to $365,000 when the merger closed. He final labored because the finance chief of a sequence of health golf equipment.
Chief working officer Andrew Northwall obtained 20,000 shares, price $812,000. He was paid $365,000 final 12 months. Beforehand he labored at Parler, the social community that was well-liked amongst pro-Trump rioters on the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021.
Juhan and Northwall additionally will obtain $600,000 retention bonuses this month.
Different executives will obtain a complete of $1.24 million in bonuses. They embrace chief know-how officer Vladimir Novachki, who additionally obtained 45,000 shares, price $1.8 million, and normal counsel Scott Glabe, who obtained 20,000 shares, price $812,000. Glabe served as an affiliate White Home counsel beneath Trump.
Trump Media co-founders Andy Litinsky and Wes Moss, who met Trump on “The Apprentice” and helped launch the enterprise in 2021, obtained a mixed 7.5 million shares by their partnership, United Atlantic Ventures, a stake price about $304 million.
Arc International Investments II, the largest founding investor in Digital World Acquisition, the corporate that merged with Trump Media to take it public, stated in a submitting it obtained 13.3 million shares, price about $539 million. A earlier submitting by Trump Media stated Arc would obtain 9.5 million shares.
Arc and Digital World are concerned in a authorized dispute relating to what number of shares Arc is owed. Arc is managed by Digital World’s former chief government Patrick Orlando.
Trump Media stated it had helped fund its operations by issuing 19 convertible notes since 2021 in alternate for loans with a complete face worth of greater than $40 million. The holders of these notes, most of whom the filings don’t establish, can convert the unpaid principal into inventory. The corporate stated a number of of the notes had been amended or prolonged since they have been issued, and that it had an “ongoing disagreement” with one noteholder over their “differing interpretations of sure phrases.”
The corporate additionally stated it had issued convertible notes to unnamed traders for “working capital functions” over the last quarter of 2023, and that greater than $1 million of the notes remained excellent by the top of the 12 months.
The Trump Media deal sits on the heart of 4 ongoing lawsuits, all of which have been filed inside the final two months:
- Trump Media and Digital World sued Arc and Orlando in Florida, saying their “irrational and disturbing conduct” had “imposed huge prices” and brought about “in depth reputational hurt.”
- Litinsky and Moss’ United Atlantic Ventures sued Trump Media in Delaware, saying Trump had pushed a “last-minute inventory seize” that may dilute their shares. Trump is scheduled to be deposed in that lawsuit this month.
- Arc sued Digital World, its chief government and three board members in Delaware, saying that they had labored to deprive Orlando of tens of millions of shares.
- Trump Media sued Moss, Litinsky and Orlando in Florida, accusing the co-founders of mismanaging the corporate with a “poisonous company tradition” and searching for to drive the forfeiture of their shares. The Delaware decide within the United Atlantic Ventures lawsuit stated at a listening to April 1 that he was “gobsmacked” that Trump Media filed this swimsuit when the dispute was already enjoying out in his courtroom.
Digital World stated it spent $19.6 million on “authorized investigations” final 12 months, largely as a result of its $18 million settlement with the SEC, a Trump Media submitting reveals.
Trump Media additionally agreed final 12 months to pay an unnamed regulation agency $500,000 for providers, the submitting stated. In November, the agency was issued a $500,000 convertible observe with a conversion value of $10 per share; that stake is price $2 million in the present day.
