Donald Trump's Truth Social Goes Public

Truth Social's parent company, Trump Media & Technology Group, is now a public company that's trading on the Nasdaq. Kara Swisher and Scott Galloway discuss what this means for Donald Trump's net worth and the future of Trump Media as a meme stock. #pivot #podcast #donaldtrump #truthsocial

Kara SwisherhostScott Gallowayhost

Mar 26, 20246mWatch on YouTube ↗

EVERY SPOKEN WORD

15 min read · 2,705 words

0:00 – 0:30
Truth Social’s SPAC merger and Trump’s sudden financial lift
1. KSKara Swisher
  He's being called Don Corleone on social media, but Donald Trump's finances are about to get a big boost. Trump Media and Technology Group, the parent company of Truth Social, will likely become a publicly traded company this week following Digital World Acquisition Corp's approval of a merger last Friday. As we record this, Trump just got a lifeline for that judgment in his civil fraud case. The bond was reduced from $454 million to $175 million by the New York Appeals Court. Trump now has 10 days to post that bond. Um, I don't know why he gets a break, but...
0:30 – 1:00
Valuation math, meme-stock dynamics, and the lockup question
1. KSKara Swisher
  What do you think about this deal? The Trump Media and Technology Group has a market value of around $5 billion based on a $37 share price of Digital World Acquisition Corp. Tr- Trump owns 60%. His overall net worth will increase by about $3 billion. That said, you know, this is a meme stock no matter how you slice it. There's also a lockup provision in the merger agreement that would, in theory, prevent Trump from selling his shares for at least six months. He can, um... The lockup agreement could be waived by the board, which includes his son, um, his son, uh, Don Jr., Devin Nunes, the CEO,
1:00 – 1:31
“The memiest meme stock”: DWAC’s history and hype-driven trading
1. KSKara Swisher
  and Linda McMahon, who, who used to run WWE or whatever she did over there. Uh, they're all friends of. But if he sells, y- you know, the price will go down. If he sells, there's gonna be lawsuits aplenty. Um, it's obviously a meme stock or way to get... to funnel him money somehow. I'll say the l- last thing, two last things. DWAC, the SPAC that merged with, um, Trump's company was already a meme stock to start with. Um, as Fast Company put it, "Donald Trump's True Social could be the memiest meme stock that ever memed."
1:31 – 1:52
Major investors and political cross-currents: Jeff Yass, TikTok, and influence
1. KSKara Swisher
  And, uh, once again, Republican mega donor Jeff Yass was the biggest institutional shareholder of DWAC according to a report in the New York Times. He's also a major investor in TikTok's parent company ByteDance, as we discussed last week. Uh, I don't know. This is a just a... It feels like a lawsuit, like a securities lawsuit waiting to happen. But your thoughts, Scott. This is your area of expertise.
1:52 – 2:28
Scott’s hypothetical: policy favors exchanged for stock support
1. SGScott Galloway
  So, i- i- say you were running for president and you needed a bond of half a billion dollars and you knew someone who was the largest shareholder in TikTok and you said, "If I become president, I'll make sure it isn't banned," or whatever it is. Y- y- y- you could get someone by virtue of the White House. You could get them billions of dollars in shareholder value.
2. KSKara Swisher
  Yeah.
3. SGScott Galloway
  You met with them on a golf course and you said, "Oh, and by the way, there's a very small float in this SPAC that I have a large interest in. If you were just to throw, say, $10, $20, $30 million, maybe $50 million at this thing and keep the stock price elevated, that would make me very happy."
4. KSKara Swisher
  Mm-hmm.
2:28 – 3:18
Fundamentals vs valuation: tiny revenue, huge market cap
1. SGScott Galloway
  Because when you look at Digital World Acquisition Company, the SPAC that's, I think, de-SPACing to take over Trump's Truth Social, Truth Social, the numbers I've seen were that year-to-date it's done three and a half million in revenue.
2. KSKara Swisher
  Something like that, yeah.
3. SGScott Galloway
  The hottest AI companies' stocks in the world are trading at, like, 60 or 70 times revenue, but, but Donald Trump's Truth Social, which has five million active users, which is-
4. KSKara Swisher
  They lose money?
5. SGScott Galloway
  ... literally nothing-
6. KSKara Swisher
  Mm-hmm.
7. SGScott Galloway
  ... made three and a half million dollars.
8. KSKara Swisher
  Revenue.
9. SGScott Galloway
  It was run by a former congressman turned social media CEO, Devin Nunes. That's worth 600 times revenue. So, something... And maybe it's just a meme stock, but-
10. KSKara Swisher
  Does it feel like a fl- a way to give him money? Like it just totally does. It's like this is gonna be so investigated. I can't even-
11. SGScott Galloway
  Well, okay.
12. KSKara Swisher
  ... stand it.
3:18 – 4:21
Corruption context and why this one ‘stinks’—plus the ‘best short’ caveat
1. SGScott Galloway
  Let me be clear. There's corruption all over Washington. Nancy Pelosi, it ends up, is the greatest-
2. KSKara Swisher
  This is corrupting. I get it.
3. SGScott Galloway
  R- uh, Speaker Pelosi or former Speaker Pelosi is a god... has godlike stock-picking capability, as do a bunch of other members of Congress. There is corruption on both sides of the aisle here. This seems... This, this one really stinks. He has the right to start a company as a private citizen. He has the right to merge it with a SPAC. They have the right... He has the right to sell it after six months. I'm just speaking purely... I have never seen a company that feels like a better short. And this isn't financial advice because you have non-economic interests in this thing and it could go to 100 if he's elected president. But this is a company with three and a half million in revenue that's trading for billions of dollars in value. He, he has the right to start it. He has the right to sell that stock. It's not going to happen in time unless maybe he can borrow against it. I don't know.
4. KSKara Swisher
  Who's gonna take-
5. SGScott Galloway
  The whole thing stinks.
6. KSKara Swisher
  I mean, it's gotta be donors that take... Y- yeah, it's just, ugh. Ugh, I just... This is, like, so legal.
7. SGScott Galloway
  The, the president-
8. KSKara Swisher
  This is... I wanna file a lawsuit right now.
4:21 – 4:56
Reform proposal: pay elected officials far more, ban conflicted investing
1. SGScott Galloway
  The president should be paid $10 million a year.
2. KSKara Swisher
  Oh?
3. SGScott Galloway
  Every senator should be paid $1 million a year, if not $2 million a year.
4. KSKara Swisher
  And they can't take money?
5. SGScott Galloway
  Every representative, every representative should be paid $1 million a year for the following. All of your stocks go into a blind trust and they're held there for five years after you leave office, and you cannot go to work for anyone, anyone that's gonna benefit for a government contract. Pay these people a shit ton of money so they don't have to paint their fence while they're in office for when they get out of office. It's just... The corruption here is just, it's just-
6. KSKara Swisher
  Yeah.
7. SGScott Galloway
  ... too tempting.
4:56 – 6:36
Endgame risks: selling pressure, internal lawsuits, and ‘follow the money’
1. KSKara Swisher
  Yeah, I don't know if they... I, I think... I just, again, when, when he sells, it'll drop the stock. Uh, I think it's a way of giving him money. This is what it feels like. It's like a back way to do it.
2. SGScott Galloway
  I think you're right.
3. KSKara Swisher
  Um, the fact that you're mixing social media, Donald Trump, TikTok, and, and stock, meme stocks, is just, like, literally it's the peak 2024. It's peak 2024. This guy, as always, has found a way out. He's gotta be the luckiest fuck in America. He really is. Um, that said, I think this is just aching for liti- litigators to come at this and investigators and... It'll be our... It's our next thing, whatever happens here, whatever the emails they're trading. By the way, this company is also embroiled in all kinds of legal action with its current... with, with the people who started it. There's all... And the, and the DWAC guy. There's all kinds of... He's now suing. He's now anti-Trump, and they're all kind of anti-Trump also, the ones that love Trump. So, within this, there's also more lawsuits. There was a good piece in The Washington Post about th- And they've been following it. So, there's lawsuits inside of lawsuits inside of lawsuits, which is sort of the, the, the brand of Donald Trump. So, we'll see what happens here, but I don't think he should necessarily rely on this, but it's a g- it's a damn good way to get him money, you know? And of course, it, uh, totally explains his flip-flop on TikTok. Give me a break. You just have to follow the money with this guy 'cause he's g- he's for sale and he loves money. Um, and so he'll do whatever it takes to hold on to it. He'll do what, uh, what... Uh, he'll, he'll sell his stake or water or piece-of-shit university to do so. So, it's kind of gross, grotesque, in my feeling.