Trump Media quarterly loss reaches $238 million as holdings are marked down
Trump Media reported $1.7 million in quarterly revenue and a $238 million loss, largely tied to unrealized markdowns across digital assets and securities.
By Dev Ramirez · Crypto Correspondent
· 3 min read
Trump Media’s quarterly loss reached $238.1 million for the April-through-June period, while revenue totaled $1.7 million. For investors following DJT, the key detail is that most of the reported loss came from a change in the stated value of holdings, rather than an expense from selling those assets, according to reports on the company’s SEC filing.
Trump Media & Technology Group, the owner of Truth Social, recorded $190.4 million in unrealized losses on digital assets, pledged digital assets and equity securities, Al Jazeera and Yahoo Finance reported. That combined markdown category represented roughly four-fifths of the quarter’s net loss, but it does not measure a crypto-only loss because it also includes equity securities.
What caused Trump Media’s quarterly loss?
An unrealized loss occurs when an asset’s reported value falls below its carrying value, without the company necessarily having sold it. It is a non-cash accounting charge at the time it is recorded, though it can become a realized loss if the asset is later sold for less than its recorded value.
Alongside the $190.4 million in holding markdowns, Trump Media reported $11.7 million of accreted interest and $8.1 million in stock-based compensation, according to Al Jazeera’s account of the filing. Accreted interest is interest added to a loan balance rather than paid immediately in cash.
The company’s revenue figure underscores the scale difference between its operating business and the accounting loss. Of its second-quarter media-segment revenue, $1.43 million came from advertising and $179,500 from subscriptions, Al Jazeera reported. The company’s first-half net loss was reported at $644 million on $2.5 million in revenue. Yahoo Finance reported that Trump Media lost $405.9 million in the prior quarter.
Trump Media shifts focus back to social media
Interim Chief Executive Kevin McGurn said the company would refocus on social media after spending about a year pursuing expansion into online betting and crypto, according to The Guardian. The company still intends to pursue its planned transaction with fusion-energy company TAE Technologies, with McGurn saying it was targeting a year-end close.
One new social-media-related business is Truth API, a data-licensing product launched August 1. The service provides access to Truth Social posts, and McGurn said it had signed 10 customers, mostly high-frequency trading firms, at monthly prices of $60,000 to $100,000, The Guardian reported. Al Jazeera reported the company said more than 10 customer agreements had been signed.
The product has prompted conflict-of-interest criticism because President Donald Trump’s Truth Social posts can affect markets. McGurn responded that licensed, real-time data feeds sold through commercial application programming interfaces are established in technology, financial-information and media businesses, according to The Guardian.
Trump Media had more than $400 million in cash and short-term investments at quarter-end, plus $1.2 billion in bitcoin and bitcoin-related assets, The Guardian reported. Those holdings mean future reported results can remain sensitive to valuation movements as well as the company’s underlying media revenue.
This story draws on original reporting from Decrypt.
