Truth Social’s value plummets again, but Trump is likely unbothered

Over the past few months, Donald Trump has sold golden sneakers, patriotic Bibles, pieces of the suit he wore when getting a mugshot, and a new collection of NFT cards for those who didn’t lose enough on the previous round of Trump NFT cards. Trump doesn’t make these things—the Bible sales are out of inventory that has been around for years, the shoes and cards are something he sticks his name on for a hefty percentage—but just about anything goes when trying to fill the money pit left by $100 million in just legal fees (fines not included). However, Trump’s sneaker sales pale compared with his two big money moves. Both are set to deliver Trump hundreds of millions. Neither one cost him a dime. The smaller of these is the Republican National Committee, where daughter-in-law Lara Trump now has control of the checkbook. But the bigger deal is still the media company that includes Truth Social. No matter how much celebration there is every day that Trump Media (stock market symbol: DJT) tumbles, it could still leave Trump with hundreds of millions for doing nothing more than exercising his rage. And that is the ultimate grift. RELATED STORY: Trump's 24-hour Truth Social freakout is something to behold Trump Media & Technology Group Corp appeared in one of the maneuvers that have become common over the past decade, using a kind of backdoor merger that kept the company from having to clear the hurdles facing an ordinary initial public offering.  When Trump Media made its market debut on March 26, it collected sharp gains over the first two days. As Barron’s reported, a 60% stake in the company turned the successful debut into $3.7 billion in instant net worth for Trump, catapulting him up the ranks of the world’s most wealthy.  Just two days in, the stock zoomed up to $66.22, driving Trump’s worth even higher. However, even before the new company allowed the public a peek at its financials on April 1, the stock price had begun a steady decline. A week later, it was down to $37.  On Monday, as Trump entered the courtroom for his first criminal trial, the stock closed at $26.61, down another 18% in just one day. The reason for the massive single-day drop was an unusual announcement that, having just made it onto the market and with share prices dropping, Trump Media was going to respond by selling more stock in a move that would dilute the value of existing shares. Investors reacted by hitting the sell button to get out before the new shares got in. Still, considering that the total revenue of Truth Media is only slightly more than that of a single McDonald’s franchise, and the company managed to lose $58 million last year—largely by overpaying executives like Devin Nunes and handing out fat bonuses—its multi-billion dollar market valuation is nothing short of ridiculous. That valuation is entirely dependent on people like the sad story told in The Washington Post of a man in Oklahoma City who has deposited his entire family nest egg into Trump’s scam stock. “I know good and well it’s in Trump’s hands, and he’s got plans,” Jerry Dean McLain, who owns a tree-removal service, told reporters. “I have no doubt it’s going to explode sometime.” If by explode McLain means go up in a puff of smoke, that’s a real possibility. If he means go way up in value … no. Just no. Tech stocks that enter the market deep underwater and spend years pulling in investments before finally turning a profit (or folding) are plentiful, but Trump Media has nothing at all to recommend it. Its only product is a failure, its financials are a horror show, and the company has nothing to recommend it to investors who put even a moment’s thought behind where they drop their money.  As of Tuesday morning, The Wall Street Journal reports that Trump Media has lost $3 billion in its first three weeks. All this seems good for a laugh until you realize that the value of Donald Trump’s stock in the company is still $2.2 billion. For which the net investment was minimal and his personal investment was zilch. Trump hasn’t made any money off the stock yet, because he’s not allowed to sell for another five months. Every time the value of the stock decreases, Trump’s ultimate payday goes down, and even when the day arrives that he is allowed to part with some of his stock, Trump unloading more than a few percent of his shares would only tank the stock further. Even so, if the stock fell to just $5 a share, Trump could still get out with an over $400 million payday. Which isn’t bad considering that he did nothing but use Truth Social to issue his daily screeds. So long as the Oklahoma tree cutter keeps Trump Media from falling into penny stock territory, Trump still stands to end up with a fat payday a few months from now when the SEC allows him to sell. Then Trump can move on to his next scam, a TV streaming service. But the next thing probably won’t make more money than he’s grabbing right now from Truth Media. After all, when it comes to takin