The Daily Populous Saturday February 15th, 2025 evening edition
Authored by cnbc.com and submitted by PrithvinathReddy

U.S. President Donald Trump signs an executive order establishing the Energy Dominance Council led by Secretary of the Interior Doug Burgum in the Oval Office at the White House on February 14, 2025 in Washington, DC. President Trump signed a second executive order withholding federal funding from schools and universities that impose a COVID-19 vaccine mandate.

Trump Media & Technology Group shares were down about 1% in extended trading on Friday after the operator of Truth Social released its 2024 results.

Earnings: Loss of $2.36 per share

Loss of $2.36 per share Revenue: $3.6 million

The company's revenue declined 12% year over year, according to its annual report. The company saw its net loss widen to $400.9 million from $58.2 million in 2023.

Trump Media debuted on Nasdaq under the ticker "DJT" last March, completing its merger with Digital World Acquisition Corp. The stock nearly doubled in value in 2024, with its namesake, Donald Trump, winning the U.S. presidential election in November. As of Friday's close, the stock was down about 11% year to date giving it a market capitalization of $6.59 billion.

In 2024, Trump Media incurred merger-related legal fees because of obstruction from former President Biden's Securities and Exchange Commission, according to a statement. A change to a revenue-sharing agreement with an advertising partner resulted in lower sales. "Additionally, revenue has varied as we selectively test a nascent advertising initiative on our Truth Social platform," the company said in the annual report.

Unlike Meta and other social media companies, Trump Media management said in the filing they do not believe in using traditional metrics such as the number of active users or average revenue per user. Doing so "could potentially divert its focus from strategic evaluation with respect to the progress and growth of its business," according to the filing.

In the fourth quarter, Trump Media announced the availability of its Truth+ video streaming service on Android, iOS and the web.

The company has not held an earnings call since the merger.

As of Friday, a trust where President Trump is the sole beneficiary owns 52% of the voting power of the company's stock, the filing states.

Trump publishes posts on Truth Social, where he has 8.9 million followers. On X, owned by Tesla CEO Elon Musk, who has been helping with the Trump administration's Department of Government Efficiency, Trump has 100.9 million followers.

Trump Media now has $776.8 million in cash, cash equivalents and short-term investments, with $9.6 million in debt.

"We will continue to explore opportunities to partner, merge with, and acquire other entities that are able to function effectively if TMTG evolves into a holding company with subsidiaries spanning several industries," Chairman and CEO Devin Nunes, a former Republican Congressman was quoted as saying in the statement.

WATCH: Trump Media expands into financial services, including allocation to crypto: CNBC Crypto World

bluAstrid on February 15th, 2025 at 12:47 UTC »

Yeah the business lost $400M, but the man got richer.

wifeunderthesea on February 15th, 2025 at 12:22 UTC »

elon when trump loses $400 million: “interesting. losing $400 million isn’t failure-it’s strategic liquidity reallocation. real innovators don’t hoard money, they deploy it dynamically.”

elon when a regular person loses $400.00: “weak mindset. get back to the grind.”

AudibleNod on February 15th, 2025 at 12:16 UTC »

He could run America like a business they said.