United States: Trump places the shares of his media group in a trust

Donald Trump has transferred all the securities he holds in the capital of his media group Trump Media and Technology Group (TMTG) to a trust, the only administrator of which is his eldest son.

TMTG's 114.7 million shares represent 52.9% of the shares and are worth 3.98 billion at Friday's closing price.

According to documents published Friday by the Market Regulatory Authority, the SEC, Donald Trump Jr is “sole director and has sole voting rights and authority over all securities held by the trust”.

Many observers were concerned about seeing the real estate developer retain direct control of this stake once he became President of the United States again, citing a risk of conflict of interest.

$2.6 million in revenue generated

TMTG's main asset is the social network Truth Social, launched in February 2022 and which presents itself as an alternative to the large social networks.

Over the first nine months of 2024, TMTG only generated $2.6 million in revenue (2.3 million Swiss francs), and recorded a substantial loss of $363 million (324 million Swiss francs). .

Donald Trump had already placed the shares of the family real estate group created by his father, the Trump Organization, in this trust before beginning his first term in 2017.

“No intention to sell”

Some law and ethics specialists have criticized this arrangement, arguing that if the Republican no longer had direct access to his titles, the threat of conflict of interest was not lifted to the extent that Donald Trump is very close to his eldest son.

After investors were concerned about the possible sale of his TMTG securities, Donald Trump assured, in mid-November, that he had “no intention of selling”.

The president-elect also recently lent his name and image to a new cryptocurrency platform, World Liberty Financial.

He is neither a shareholder nor a manager, but he will receive digital tokens, the equivalent of cryptocurrency, as well as three-quarters of the revenue generated by the platform, in exchange for the use of his name.

“Latest news”

Want to stay on top of the news? “Tribune de Genève” offers you two meetings per day, directly in your email box. So you don't miss anything that's happening in your canton, in Switzerland or around the world.

Other newsletters

Log in

Did you find an error? Please report it to us.

0 comments