Former President Donald Trump’s money-losing social media company is venturing into another tough market: streaming.
Trump Media and Technology Group — the company behind Truth Social — on Tuesday said it will launch a life TV streaming platform that will focus on content “being suppressed on other platforms and services.”
The announcement put new pressure on Trump Media’s downbeaten shares, sending the stock down another 11.3% in late morning trading. The stock lost $3.01 to trade at $23.60. That’s a third of the $79.38 high hit when the shares debuted last month.
The stock started tanking less than a week after the IPO, when the company revealed it had just $4.1 million in revenue last year while losing $58 million.
Despite the slumping price, the company said Monday in a regulatory filing that it will issue up to 20 million more shares, sending the stock down further amid fears its value will be further diluted with the flood of new shares hitting the market.
Trump, who returned to court for his criminal hush-money trial Tuesday morning, owns about 60% of the outstanding shares.
On Tuesday, Trump Media said it plans to introduce Truth Social’s content delivery network for streaming live TV to the Truth Social apps for smart phones and on the web in its “phase 1,” now that it’s done with research and development.
The next step would be to release stand-alone streaming apps for phones, tablets and other devices, followed by an app for TVs.
No dates were set for any of the releases.
The content is expected to focus on live TV, including news networks, religious channels, “family-friendly” content and “other content that has been cancelled, is at risk of cancellation, or is being suppressed on other platforms and services,” the company said in a statement.
No other details of the business plan behind streaming were released. Streaming has been largely unprofitable for companies far larger than Trump Media so far, but major studios at least are starting to operate in the black.
“With our streaming content, we aim to provide a permanent home for high-quality news and entertainment that face discrimination by other channels and content delivery services,” Trump Media CEO Devin Nunes said in the statement. “There is a lot of great content that simply can’t find an audience for unjust reasons, and we want to let these creators know they’ll soon have a guaranteed platform where they won’t be cancelled.”
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