Trump Media Q2 results: US president-led media ventrue posts $238 mn loss

Trump Media & Technology, the company behind US President Donald Trump's Truth Social platform, reported a $238 million loss in the second quarter, as the value of its bitcoin and Cronos holdings tumbled. The three-month loss through June was more than 10 times the loss recorded a year earlier. In per-share terms, the company's loss widened from 8 cents to 86 cents.The sharp deterioration came even as revenue more than doubled to $1.7 million from a year earlier, marking an 89% rise. Excluding unrealised paper losses on its crypto holdings, along with taxes, interest and other items, Trump Media's operating loss rose to $164 million from $44 million a year earlier.Trump Media ended June with more than $400 million in cash and short-term investments. It also held $1.2 billion in bitcoin and bitcoin-related assets.Trump Media shifts focus back to social mediaThe company also said it was changing course after a year of expanding into businesses beyond media.New chief executive Kevin McGurn said on a conference call after the earnings release that initiatives including online betting and crypto would now largely be abandoned as the company returns its focus to social media.“We made the disciplined choice to pivot in order to invest more time and resources in our most important initiatives,” McGurn said. “We will say no to things or change course as warranted,” the executive told AP.Trump Media's stock, which had already fallen 8% during regular trading, slipped slightly in after-hours trading after the earnings report.Truth API takes centre stageMcGurn is placing greater emphasis on Truth API, a new service that gives Wall Street trading firms early access to posts from leading users on Truth Social.The service includes access to posts from Trump, the platform's most-followed user, whose posts have often moved markets when he announces major US policy shifts on the site.Trump Media is charging $60,000 to $100,000 a month for Truth API and has already signed 10 customers, McGurn said. Most are high-frequency trading firms that buy and sell in milliseconds.“We’re in the early innings,” McGurn said, adding that the potential market extends beyond traders to data centre companies, news organisations and developers of large language models.With 10 customers, the service could generate between $7 million and $12 million a year, or roughly two to three times the company's entire revenue last year.Paid service draws scrutinyThe service has also raised concerns among good government watchdogs, who have criticised Trump Media since the beginning of Trump's second term over the possibility of the company providing him a way to profit from the presidency. Democrats have said they would investigate the paid service if they gain control of Congress in the midterms.McGurn dismissed those concerns, pointing to the wider use of similar services.“Providing licensed real-time public data through commercial APIs is a well-established business practice across the technology, financial information and media industries,” he said. “This is no different.”Nuclear fusion venture to continueTrump Media is not abandoning all of its new ventures. Its previously announced nuclear fusion business will continue, with McGurn saying the company hopes to complete its merger with energy company TAE Technologies by the end of the year.“We continue to believe it’s the single most important driver of long-term value for this company,” McGurn said of the fusion business.The company has $1 billion in debt through special convertible notes that are not due until 2028. However, lenders have an option to demand that the notes be cashed out in November, potentially affecting the company's finances, although it appeared to have ample cash at the end of the quarter.Get the latest Business News and Live updates. Download the TOI app.