Trump's Media Venture Struggles Despite Market Boom

In a year where most businesses thrived, one company stood out for all the wrong reasons. Trump Media & Technology Group (TMTG), the company behind former President Donald Trump's Truth Social platform, has had a rough time. Its stock price has dropped by a huge 69 percent since the start of the year. To make matters worse, the company reported a massive operating loss of $186. 1 million. The company's shares did get a small boost recently. This was after announcing a deal with TAE Technologies, a nuclear fusion company. However, the current stock price is still far below its peak at the beginning of the year. The peak was $42. 91 on January 13, but it's now at $14. 86. Experts have not been kind to TMTG's performance. Matthew A. Winkler, a respected editor, described investors in Trump's media group as some of the biggest losers in the stock market this year. He pointed out that while the market rallied worldwide, TMTG struggled. TMTG's poor performance is not just compared to the overall market. It's also the worst performer among the 20 internet companies in the Russell 1000 Index. This index tracks the performance of the 1, 000 largest publicly traded U. S. companies. Most of its peers posted gains, but TMTG did not.The company also ranks last among the 97 publicly traded internet media services companies worldwide with a market capitalization of at least $1 billion. This is a clear indication of its struggles. In a surprising move, TMTG announced a merger with TAE Technologies. The deal is valued at over $6 billion. The company hopes to combine its capital with TAE's fusion technology to build the world's first utility-scale fusion power plant by 2026. They claim this will help America maintain its global economic dominance. The announcement did cause a temporary spike in TMTG's stock price. However, it's still roughly two-thirds below its January peak. Experts warn that this deal may not be the turnaround that investors are hoping for. TMTG is the only company among its 20 domestic peers with no widely disseminated 12-month target share price, revenue estimates, or earnings forecasts. In a press release about the deal, TMTG said the merger will benefit both companies. They also mentioned that it will benefit Americans who want lower energy prices and energy independence. They added that the big losers from the deal include partisan media outlets that root for them to fail.