Trump Media reports first sales for early access to president's posts

The download screen for the Truth Social app is displayed on a laptop computer, March 2024. AP-Yonhap

WASHINGTON — The parent company of U.S. President Donald Trump's Truth Social platform said Tuesday it has signed up clients willing to pay for early access to Trump's posts.

It delivered the news while reporting a tenfold increase in second-quarter losses.

Trump set up Truth Social in 2022 after being banned from Twitter — later renamed X — and now uses it as his go-to platform for major announcements.

Trump Media & Technology Group announced last month that customers can pay for early access to the president's market-moving social media posts, a service dubbed Truth API.

"Our new Truth API product is already generating revenue, with more than ten customer agreements signed to date," interim CEO Kevin McGurn said in a press release, without identifying the customers.

Truth API saw "a number of institutional customers" before its August 1 launch and is continuing to gain more despite "factually inaccurate criticism," the company said.

Trump's move to sell high-speed access raised fresh questions about the monetization of the presidency.

News outlet Axios has reported that monthly subscription rates for the early access run from $60,000 to $100,000.

In its press release, Trump Media & Technology Group posted a loss of $238.1 million for the quarter ending June 30.

This stood in sharp contrast to its $20 million loss for the same quarter in the prior year.

The shortfall was largely due to declines in non-cash assets. This included more than $190 million in losses from "digital assets, digital assets pledged, and equity securities."

The company meanwhile reported $1.7 million in revenue, up 89 percent from the same period a year earlier.

In its first fiscal quarter, Trump Media & Technology Group similarly reported a net loss mostly due to tumbling cryptocurrency valuations.

The company added on Monday that it is well-positioned to complete its proposed merger with nuclear-fusion company TAE Technologies in 2026.