The stock price of Trump Media and Technology Group (Trump Media and Technology Group) soared after listing last week, attracting the interest of retail investors and “meme stock” people.
But the moment was short lived, and shares of the former president's social media platform have since plummeted.
In an interview on Thursday, media mogul Barry Diller, the chairman of IAC and Expedia Group, was asked about the future of this stock, and bluntly stated, “This is a scam.”
According to documents filed with the US SEC by Trump Media and Technology Group on Monday, the company's revenue for 2023 was only 4.1 million US dollars and a loss of 58 million US dollars. Diller believes that for any rational investor, these numbers should not mean “buying.”
“This is ridiculous,” he said. “This company has no revenue.”
Diller questioned how anyone might think Trump Media and Technology Group is a valuable company, and he concluded that investors must not have considered the company's financial situation when buying this stock. “They bought it for other reasons,” he said, adding that these investors are “idiots.”
Diller compared Tesla Media's brief post-listing spike in stock prices to investors' fervor for Gamestop (Gamestop) and other “meme stocks” back then.
Diller believes that Trump's media company has little chance of future growth, adding that the platform's appeal mainly comes from Trump because he “stands there to entertain people” during the campaign.