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Trump Media & Technology Group Corp. (TMTG) is an American media and technology company headquartered in
Sarasota, Florida Sarasota () is a city in and the county seat of Sarasota County, Florida, United States. It is located in Southwest Florida, the southern end of the Tampa Bay area, and north of Fort Myers, Florida, Fort Myers and Punta Gorda, Florida, Punta Gord ...
. It runs the
Truth Social Truth Social (stylized as TRUTH) is an alt-tech social media platform owned by Trump Media & Technology Group (TMTG), an American media and technology company majority-owned by U.S. president Donald Trump. It has been called a "Twitter clone" ...
social-media platform and is majority-owned by U.S. president
Donald Trump Donald John Trump (born June 14, 1946) is an American politician, media personality, and businessman who is the 47th president of the United States. A member of the Republican Party (United States), Republican Party, he served as the 45 ...
. Founded by Trump, Andy Litinsky and Wes Moss in 2021, it went
public In public relations and communication science, publics are groups of individual people, and the public (a.k.a. the general public) is the totality of such groupings. This is a different concept to the sociology, sociological concept of the ''Öf ...
on March 26, 2024, after merging with Digital World Acquisition Corp. (DWAC), a
special-purpose acquisition company A special-purpose acquisition company (SPAC; ), also known as a blank check company or a blind-pool stock offering, is a shell corporation listed on a stock exchange with the purpose of acquiring (or merging with) a private company, thus taking ...
(SPAC).


History

President Trump was banned from
Twitter Twitter, officially known as X since 2023, is an American microblogging and social networking service. It is one of the world's largest social media platforms and one of the most-visited websites. Users can share short text messages, image ...
on January 8, 2021, in response to the
January 6 United States Capitol attack On January 6, 2021, the United States Capitol in Washington, D.C., was attacked by a mob of supporters of Donald Trump, President Donald Trump in an attempted self-coup,Multiple sources: * * * * * * * * * * * * * two months afte ...
. In May, the then former president unveiled a website, "From the Desk of Donald J. Trump", which he said he would use to spread his thoughts; it was shut down within a month. Meanwhile, the Trump Media & Technology Group was incorporated in February 2021, and on September 3, 2021, Digital World Acquisition Corp. (DWAC), a
special-purpose acquisition company A special-purpose acquisition company (SPAC; ), also known as a blank check company or a blind-pool stock offering, is a shell corporation listed on a stock exchange with the purpose of acquiring (or merging with) a private company, thus taking ...
, began trading on the Nasdaq after its IPO of 25 million shares. DWAC was created with the help of ARC Capital, a
Shanghai Shanghai, Shanghainese: , Standard Chinese pronunciation: is a direct-administered municipality and the most populous urban area in China. The city is located on the Chinese shoreline on the southern estuary of the Yangtze River, with the ...
-based firm known for listing Chinese companies on American stock markets and which had been under SEC investigation for misrepresenting shell corporations. The DWAC-Trump venture was linked to China Yunhong Holdings until December 2021, when the lead banker promised to sever ties with China and dissolve Yunhong. In February 2022, Reuters reported that the connection between Shanghai-based ARC Capital and Digital World was more extensive than thought, with ARC having offered money to start the SPAC. In October 2021, Trump announced that he had created TMTG through a SPAC merger with DWAC that they had entered into a
merger Mergers and acquisitions (M&A) are business transactions in which the ownership of a company, business organization, or one of their operating units is transferred to or consolidated with another entity. They may happen through direct absorpt ...
agreement to make TMTG a publicly traded company and that they would create a social media company to rival Twitter. DWAC proceeded to raise hundreds of millions of dollars; reporters questioned the ethics and legality surrounding their financial backers and their history with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). There was concern that they may have violated securities law by fundraising off the proposed merger before being officially listed on the stock market. In December 2021, TMTG raised $1 billion in
private investment in public equity A private investment in public equity, often called a PIPE deal, involves the selling of publicly traded common shares or some form of preferred stock or convertible security to private investors. It is an allocation of shares in a public compan ...
(PIPE) funding and entered into a technology and cloud services agreement with Rumble, which would operate part of Truth Social and TMTG+, a planned subscription-based
streaming service Streaming media refers to multimedia delivered through a network for playback using a media player. Media is transferred in a ''stream'' of packets from a server to a client and is rendered in real-time; this contrasts with file downl ...
. At the same time, they revealed that the SEC and
Financial Industry Regulatory Authority The Financial Industry Regulatory Authority (FINRA) is a private American corporation that acts as a self-regulatory organization (SRO) that regulates member brokerage firms and exchange markets. FINRA is the successor to the National Associati ...
(FINRA) had begun investigating the SPAC's communication with TMTG. The company's board includes Trump's son Donald Trump Jr., Nunes, and former
Trump administration Presidency of Donald Trump may refer to: * First presidency of Donald Trump, the United States presidential administration from 2017 to 2021 * Second presidency of Donald Trump, the United States presidential administration since 2025 See also * ...
officials
Robert Lighthizer Robert Emmet Lighthizer (; born October 11, 1947) is an American attorney and government official who was the U.S. Trade Representative in the First presidency of Donald Trump, Trump administration from 2017 to 2021. After he graduated from Geo ...
,
Kash Patel Kashyap Pramod "Kash" Patel (born February 25, 1980) is an American lawyer and former federal prosecutor serving as the director of the Federal Bureau of Investigation since 2025. He also served as acting director of the Bureau of Alcohol, To ...
,
Linda McMahon Linda Marie McMahon ( ; ; born October 4, 1948) is an American politician, business executive, and former professional wrestling promoter who has served as the 13th United States Secretary of Education, United States secretary of education since ...
, and Scott Glabe.
Devin Nunes Devin Gerald Nunes (; born October 1, 1973) is an American businessman and politician who serves as the Chair of the President's Intelligence Advisory Board since January 20, 2025, and as chief executive officer of the Trump Media & Technolog ...
resigned from the
U.S. House of Representatives The United States House of Representatives is a chamber of the bicameral United States Congress; it is the lower house, with the U.S. Senate being the upper house. Together, the House and Senate have the authority under Article One of th ...
in December 2021 and became the TMTG's
chief executive officer A chief executive officer (CEO), also known as a chief executive or managing director, is the top-ranking corporate officer charged with the management of an organization, usually a company or a nonprofit organization. CEOs find roles in variou ...
in January 2022. On February 21, 2022, TMTG launched the social network Truth Social. By April 2023, Trump reported earning less than $201 from TMTG. On June 8, 2022, Trump and five others, including Trump Jr., Patel and Glabe left TMTG's board before the SEC and the Manhattan grand jury investigating Trump's business practices issued subpoenas. The grand jury issued subpoenas to the DWAC on June 27 and, along with the SEC, to TMTG on July 1. The board departures were kept secret until they were revealed by the ''Sarasota Herald-Tribute'' in July, which TMTG initially denied. In November 2022, the DWAC postponed a vote to complete its merger with TMTG for the 6th time after failing to get the necessary shareholder support. They would extend it again in September 2023, days before it expired. Throughout 2023, TMTG faced financial and legal difficulties. In March it was reported that New York investigators were looking into whether TMTG had violated anti-money laundering laws by accepting $8 million connected to a Russian oligarch. In July they settled fraud charges brought by the SEC for misleading investors and the SEC and they agreed to pay an $18 million fine upon closing the merger. A November 2023 DWAC financial disclosure expressed substantial doubt about TMTG's ability to meet its financial obligations, showing a $31.5 million loss since inception. On November 21, 2023, TMTG filed a lawsuit seeking $1.5 billion in damages from 20 media outlets for falsely reporting a $73 million loss. Corrected reports showed a net loss of almost $23 million in the first half of 2023 and a total loss of $31.6 million since launch. On March 22, 2024, DWAC shareholders approved the merger with TMTG, which was completed on March 25, 2024. The combined company began trading under the symbol DJT and finished the day with an $8 billion valuation. In regulatory filings, Lighthizer and McMahon are listed as
independent director An independent director (also sometimes known as an outside director) is a member of a board of directors who does not have a material or pecuniary relationship with company or related persons, except sitting fees. In the United States, indepe ...
s. An April 1, 2024, SEC filing revealed that TMTG lost over $58 million in 2023 with only $4 million in advertising revenue from ''Truth Social''. Following criticisms about its auditor, BF Borgers, TMTG fired the firm on May 6, 2024, due to regulatory requirements. In May 2024, the company reported a net loss of $327.6 million for the first quarter of 2024 with $770,500 in revenue. In July 2024, TMTG joined the
Russell 1000 The Russell 1000 Index is a U.S. stock market index that tracks the highest-ranking 1,000 stocks in the Russell 3000 Index, which represent about 93% of the total market capitalization of that index. , the stocks of the Russell 1000 Index had ...
and
Russell 3000 The Russell 3000 Index is a capitalization-weighted stock market index that seeks to be a benchmark of the entire U.S. stock market. It measures the performance of the 3,000 largest publicly held companies incorporated in the United States as me ...
indexes and raised $105 million through the cash exercise of its
warrants Warrant may refer to: * Warrant (law), a form of specific authorization ** Arrest warrant, authorizing the arrest and detention of an individual ** Search warrant, a court order issued that authorizes law enforcement to conduct a search for eviden ...
. On July 12, 2024, one day before the assassination attempt on Donald Trump, Austin Private Wealth filed a report indicating that it had shorted 12 million shares of TMTG. Four days later, it amended the filing to 1,200 shares and apologized for its "filing error," which spurred
conspiracy theories A conspiracy theory is an explanation for an event or situation that asserts the existence of a conspiracy (generally by powerful sinister groups, often political in motivation), when other explanations are more probable.Additional sources: * ...
. As of the close of business on September 23, 2024, the stock's share price had fallen to $12.15, some 84 percent below its March high of $79.38. However, over the following month, it recovered much of this loss. On November 5 (
Election Day Election day or polling day is the day on which general elections are held. In many countries, general elections are always held on a Saturday or Sunday, to enable as many voters as possible to participate; while in other countries elections ...
), trading was halted twice for volatility. On December 19, 2024, president-elect Donald Trump transferred all of his shares (nearly 115 million) into a trust controlled by his son, Donald Trump Jr. The intent was to reduce conflict of interest. At the time, these shares were worth about $4 billion. On January 28, 2025, its six directors – Kash Patel, Linda McMahon, Robert Lighthizer, Eric Swider, Kyle Green and Donald Trump Jr. – were awarded nearly 26,000 shares each.


Truth Social

On February 21, 2022, TMTG released Truth Social, a competitor to social-media platforms such as
Twitter Twitter, officially known as X since 2023, is an American microblogging and social networking service. It is one of the world's largest social media platforms and one of the most-visited websites. Users can share short text messages, image ...
, on
iOS Ios, Io or Nio (, ; ; locally Nios, Νιός) is a Greek island in the Cyclades group in the Aegean Sea. Ios is a hilly island with cliffs down to the sea on most sides. It is situated halfway between Naxos and Santorini. It is about long an ...
. Truth Social had trouble hiring due to its political associations. In early April 2022, Reuters reported that the company's head of technology and head of product development had resigned after the network's "troubled" launch. On April 22, 2022, Rumble announced that Truth Social had migrated its website and mobile applications to Rumble's cloud infrastructure. In late April 2022, holding company DWAC lost 44% of its stock value after
Elon Musk Elon Reeve Musk ( ; born June 28, 1971) is a businessman. He is known for his leadership of Tesla, SpaceX, X (formerly Twitter), and the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE). Musk has been considered the wealthiest person in th ...
disclosed his large stake in and intent to buy out Twitter. Matthew Kennedy, a market strategist at Renaissance Capital, said a Musk-owned Twitter would undercut the rationale behind Truth Social's existence.


Bitcoin treasury

On May 27, 2025, TMTG announced it would create a "bitcoin Treasury" by selling company stock and convertible bonds and buying $2.5 billion of bitcoin. If TMTG's purchase were to go through, TMTG would become the third-largest corporate holder of bitcoin. Two months earlier, Trump had signed an executive order for the United States to create a strategic bitcoin reserve.


Legal issues


Trump departure as chairman

The ''
Sarasota Herald-Tribune The ''Sarasota Herald-Tribune'' is a daily newspaper, located in Sarasota, Florida, United States, founded in 1925 as the ''Sarasota Herald''. History The newspaper was owned by The New York Times Company from 1982 to 2012. It was then owned by ...
'' reported in July 2022 that according to Florida state records, Trump left as chairman of TMTG less than a month before the company received subpoenas from the SEC and the New York grand jury, concurrent with the DWAC subpoenas. His son Donald Trump Jr. and
Trump administration Presidency of Donald Trump may refer to: * First presidency of Donald Trump, the United States presidential administration from 2017 to 2021 * Second presidency of Donald Trump, the United States presidential administration since 2025 See also * ...
official
Kash Patel Kashyap Pramod "Kash" Patel (born February 25, 1980) is an American lawyer and former federal prosecutor serving as the director of the Federal Bureau of Investigation since 2025. He also served as acting director of the Bureau of Alcohol, To ...
were among others who simultaneously left the TMTG board of directors. Truth Social denied the report. ''
Axios Axios commonly refers to: * Axios (river), a river that runs through Greece and North Macedonia * ''Axios'' (website), an American news and information website Axios may also refer to: Brands and enterprises * Axios, a brand of suspension produ ...
'' later published records filed by TMTG's agent with the Florida Division of Corporations; an April 28 filing showed Trump and others listed as "director," while a June 8 filing to change "person, title or capacity" directed the Division to "remove" Trump and others.


Investigation of alleged Russian financial connections and alleged money laundering

''
The Guardian ''The Guardian'' is a British daily newspaper. It was founded in Manchester in 1821 as ''The Manchester Guardian'' and changed its name in 1959, followed by a move to London. Along with its sister paper, ''The Guardian Weekly'', ''The Guardi ...
'' reported in March 2023 that in 2022 the SDNY expanded its criminal investigation to include whether TMTG engaged in
money laundering Money laundering is the process of illegally concealing the origin of money obtained from illicit activities (often known as dirty money) such as drug trafficking, sex work, terrorism, corruption, and embezzlement, and converting the funds i ...
. Beginning in December 2021, when the company was in danger of collapsing because its merger with DWAC had been delayed, it received a loan in two payments totaling $8 million. This included $2 million from Paxum Bank, which is part-owned by Anton Postolnikov, a relation of Aleksandr Smirnov, a former
Russia Russia, or the Russian Federation, is a country spanning Eastern Europe and North Asia. It is the list of countries and dependencies by area, largest country in the world, and extends across Time in Russia, eleven time zones, sharing Borders ...
n government official who now runs the Russian maritime company Rosmorport. Another $6 million was paid by an ostensibly separate entity, ES Family Trust, which shared a director with Paxum Bank. The $8 million loan was structured to automatically convert into TMTG common equity upon merging with the SPAC – meaning ES Family Trust will gain a stake in TMTG if the merger proceeds – though this was not disclosed to the SPAC investors nor the SEC. The federal probe into investors of DWAC, according to ''The Washington Post'', discovered that a wealthy investor in the company was allegedly connected to attempts to allegedly move assets from Russia, Ukraine, and China into the Caribbean, and other intermediaries such as Hong Kong, the United Kingdom and Belize. According to a government transcript, an informant referenced the process as "the full Singapore with a double dip, as we call it, with having the U.K. thrown in there, just to give it that added cleanliness and polishing off".


Lawsuits since 2024

In February 2024, United Atlantic Ventures (UAV), the partnership of TMTG co-founders Andy Litinsky and Wes Moss, sued TMTG for attempting to dilute their ownership stake by increasing the authorized stock from 120 million to 1 billion shares, thus lowering the value of UAV's shares from 8.6 percent to less than 1 percent. The lawsuit mentions that Trump attempted to pressure Litinsky into giving his shares to
Melania Trump Melania Knauss Trump (born Melanija Knavs, April26, 1970) is a Slovenian and American former model who is married to U.S. President Donald Trump. Since 2025, Melania Trump has served as the first lady of the United States, a role she previous ...
and then, when he refused, tried to oust Litinsky. The next day, Arc Capital sued the DWAC for trying to strip them of their shares. The judge granted summary judgment to Atlantic Ventures LLC. In March 2024, DWAC and Trump sued DWAC's former chief executive Patrick Orlando and his firm Arc Global Investments II for extortion and causing DWAC and Trump reputational harm. Orlando and Arc counter-sued DWAC and Trump for miscalculating Arc's stake in TMTG by 2 million shares. On March 24, Trump sued Litinsky and Moss for forfeiture of their stock, saying they mishandled and attempted to block attempts to take TMTG public for nearly two years. The judge ruled in Arc's case that an agreement had been breached and ARC Global had to receive more than half a million additional shares, but ruled against ARC on breach of fiduciary duty claims, and said that Orlando was owed fewer shares than he sought. In January 2025 Arc was granted a pause in litigation in the alleged stock theft lawsuit. In February 2025, Trump Media and the video platform Rumble filed a lawsuit against a Brazilian supreme court justice alleging that he violated the right to free speech of a far-right Brazilian influencer residing in the US.


See also

* Trump Mobile, telecommunications company founded by The Trump Organization in 2025


References


External links

*
Digital World Acquisition Corp. website
{{DEFAULTSORT:Trump Media and Technology Group 2021 establishments in Florida American companies established in 2021 Mass media companies established in 2021 Technology companies established in 2021 Business career of Donald Trump Palm Beach, Florida Companies based in Sarasota, Florida Companies listed on the Nasdaq Conservative media in the United States Conservative organizations in the United States Social media companies of the United States