Trump Sues Truth Social Co-Founders, Seeks to Eliminate Their Shares
Donald Trump sued two of his co-founders at Truth Social, his social media platform of choice for tantrums and meltdowns, in a move to swoop up their stake in the company, which went public in late March.
Trump Media & Technology Group (TMTG), the parent company of Truth Social, filed a lawsuit in Florida state court against The Apprentice star Andy Litinsky and Wes Moss on March 24, which was first reported by Bloomberg Tuesday, accusing them of making a “series of reckless and wasteful decisions at a critical time” that caused “significant damage” to the company and a “decline in the stock prices of its merger.”
The suit alleges that Litinsky and Moss “failed spectacularly” at running day-to-day operations, including failing to set up Trump Media’s corporate governance structure, launch the Truth Social platform, and find a publicly traded merger partner. The suit argues that Litinsky and Moss — who were to receive 8.6 million shares in the new company, through United Atlantic Ventures — should be wiped of their stake.
The filing follows the co-founders’ own suit against Trump in Delaware, which claims TMTG was attempting to dilute their shares.
Although Truth Social’s stock soared after going public last week following the merger of TMTG with its blank check funding partner Digital World Acquisition Corp, on Monday, TMGT share prices plummeted after the company’s financials went public.
According to filings made to the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission, the social media company reported a net loss of $58,189,200 in 2023, alongside a more than $50 million loss in 2022. The company brought in only about $5.4 million in gross profit over the two-year period.
Although Trump will not be allowed to sell his shares in the company for at least six months, the valuation of Truth Social could become a crucial financial lifeline in his struggle to pay off a mountain of legal expenses stemming from his plethora of civil and criminal court cases.