The numbers behind Donald Trump's media company are getting uglier by the week. A Reuters analysis estimates that outside investors in Trump Media & Technology Group — the parent of Truth Social — have collectively lost more than $2.2 billion since buying in, even as the president's own stake, once worth over $6 billion on paper, has shriveled to roughly $460 million.

Trump holds about 114.75 million shares, which he received without paying cash when Trump Media merged with the blank-check company Digital World Acquisition Corp. in 2024. At Thursday's closing price of $4.02 a share, that stake is worth a fraction of its peak value — and the stock has fallen 32% just since last Tuesday's midterm elections.

Where the money actually went

The company's underlying business hasn't given shareholders much to hang onto. Trump Media's revenue has been essentially flat at around $4 million a year for three years running. Its streaming service, Truth+, generated just $630,000 in revenue between its August 2024 launch and this past June — against more than $200 million in spending. A bitcoin purchase the company made also landed near the top of the market, shortly before prices tumbled.

DOWN 88.5%, AND STILL A TRUE BELIEVER.

Reuters spoke with several retail investors who piled into the stock to show support for the president. A Texas investor identified as Jarzenske, who put 20% of his net worth into DJT shares, is now down 88.5% — and said he still backs Trump but feels company insiders have profited unfairly. A California retiree named Hugh Baron reported the same 88.5% loss, while a Colorado nurse, Patricia Spoerl, says she's out about $28,000.

Who's to blame, and who disputes it

Many investors interviewed blame mismanagement or so-called "naked short selling" for the stock's collapse, but Reuters found no evidence of the latter — short interest in the stock is actually below average for comparable companies. Reuters based its $2.2 billion estimate on shares sold by the company, its predecessors and insiders, adjusted for buybacks, using mark-to-market accounting that three finance professors described as the accepted method.

Trump Media disputed the methodology, calling it "dubious, biased calculations," and pointed instead to its pending merger with nuclear fusion company TAE Technologies as evidence it's focused on building shareholder value. The White House referred questions about the president's personal stake to the company.

The losses pile onto an already rough stretch for Trump's business empire: investors in four Trump-affiliated crypto ventures have lost a combined $2.3 billion through earlier this year, according to separate reporting, and the Trump family itself invested little to no cash of its own into Trump Media, securities filings show. A recent Reuters/Ipsos poll found most Americans — including nearly half of Republicans and 69% of independents — believe the president's business interests have shaped his decisions in office.