As former President Donald Trump awaits sentencing, Trump Media & Technology Group (NASDAQ:DJT) is planning to launch its own streaming service. Despite the news, however, shares of DJT stock are down again today.
Trump Media has been struggling for months amid declining users and steep financial losses from Truth Social. Trump’s legal problems haven’t helped. DJT stock has been highly volatile since a jury found the former president guilty on 34 felony counts of falsifying business records amid the 2016 election. But now Trump’s struggling media firm seems more focused on launching the streaming venture that it promised months ago.
News of this story actually broke days ago. That’s enough time for DJT stock to garner some decent momentum on what should be a positive update. But so far, this development hasn’t done much for share prices. This suggests that TMTG is facing bigger problems.
What’s Happening With DJT Stock?
As of this writing, DJT stock is down more than 7% for the day. Shares have also seen an extremely difficult past five days, during which shares have dropped more than 19%. While news of Trump Media’s streaming plans may not be pushing the stock down, it clearly isn’t helping DJT rise. The easy conclusion to draw from this is that the market simply doesn’t care about TMTG or its plans.
Trump Media highlighted its plans for a streaming launch in an 8-K regulatory filing dated June 16. The form included an article published by Just the News, which reported that the company had plans to move forward with this service. According to TMTG, Truth Social can be described as a “beachhead that will be supported by streaming.” Reportedly, the streaming service’s content will include TV shows and documentaries that are “at risk of being canceled due to biases within the entertainment industry.”
Just the News included a link to an interview with the firm, although the company spokesperson from the interview isn’t named.
“We’re the only platform that has both Donald Trump’s personal account and the Biden Campaign account, so users can get a wide array of views on Truth,” the company said at one point in the interview.
But is that really true? Trump may post more on Truth Social, but his infamous X account is still active on the platform, as is President Joe Biden’s campaign account. This is just one example calling the reliability of TMTG’s claims into question.
Why It Matters
It may be true that both Trump and Biden have accounts on Truth Social. But that doesn’t mean the platform appeals to a wide array of users. Data shows that its user base has been shrinking over recent months. That has happened even in the face of the upcoming election and Trump’s sentencing. Now that the trial is over, it is even less likely that user growth will pick back up for Truth Social. What’s more, with the company’s $58 million loss in 2023, the future of DJT stock looks even more questionable.
With that in mind, it’s unlikely that the launch of a streaming platform will do much to help this struggling company. DJT stock may see a short-term bump if the new venture goes to plan. But investors remember how much the company struggled to actually launch Truth Social and how many problems users reported during its early days. With history against it, it’s hard to be optimistic about the pending launch and its prospects.
On the date of publication, Samuel O’Brient did not hold (either directly or indirectly) any positions in the securities mentioned in this article. The opinions expressed in this article are those of the writer, subject to the InvestorPlace.com Publishing Guidelines.
