CBS News
Trump Media launching Truth Social streaming service, where it says creators “won’t be cancelled”
Trump Media & Technology Group on Tuesday announced plans to start a streaming TV platform to air news, film and other content the company claims other media outlets refuse to show.
The announcement comes three weeks after Trump Media began trading on the Nasdaq stock market, briefly valuing the company at $10.8 billion. After reaching peaking at $79.38 per share on March 26, the stock — which trades under the ticker DJT, the initials of former President Donald Trump — has plunged by almost 70%.
The slide continued on Tuesday, with Trump Media shares slipping $3.29, or 12.4%, to $23.32 in early afternoon trading. Its market value now stands at about $3.1 billion.
Trump Media’s primary asset is Truth Social, the social media service that Trump created in 2022 after he was booted from major platforms following the January 6 assault on the U.S. Capitol. From its founding, the company aimed to create what it called a “media powerhouse” with multiple platforms, including social media and digital streaming. Until now, however, the company had only introduced Truth Social.
Going public has helped bolster the money-losing company’s coffers, with Trump Media CEO Devin Nunes telling Fox Business earlier this month that it has “$200 million in the bank” to fund its plans.
Key to building a major media company will be building an audience, which in turn could convince advertisers to open their wallets. Although Trump Media doesn’t disclose its user numbers, the service had an estimated 494,000 monthly active users in February, compared with 142 million for Facebook and 75 million for X (formerly known as Twitter), according to web data company Similarweb.
That may explain why Trump Media’s revenue last year was $4.1 million, or about half the annual sales booked by an average single Chick-fil-A location, while it lost $58 million. Recent advertisers on Truth Social include groups like Patriots for America, a group hawking Trump hats, and USA Gear, selling American flag hoodies.
Trump Media didn’t immediately respond to a request for comment.
Trump’s streaming plans
Trump Media said its streaming TV platform will first unveil on the Truth Social app before eventually making its way to home TV streaming. The company didn’t provide a timeline for the rollout.
“There is a lot of great content that simply can’t find an audience for unjust reasons, and we want to let these creators know they’ll soon have a guaranteed platform where they won’t be cancelled [sic],” Nunes, a former Republican congressman from California, said.
The company added that its TV content will include “news networks, religious channels, family-friendly content including films and documentaries; and other content that has been cancelled, is at risk of cancellation, or is being suppressed on other platforms and services.”
To be sure, conservative-leaning TV networks already exist, including One America News Network (OANN) and Christian Broadcast Network, which produces the 700 Club. And conservative commentator Tucker Carlson debuted his Tucker Carlson Network after parting ways with Fox News last year.
Sliding stock price
Meanwhile, one of Trump Media’s main assets — its publicly traded stock — is continuing to lose value. That’s noteworthy because one route for a publicly traded company to raise additional capital is through secondary stock sales. If its shares become less valuable, that can hinder its ability to raise money from the public market.
Trump Media’s stock plunged 18.4% on Monday after the company filed a regulatory document that opens the door for the potential sale of millions more shares. The document, called an S-1, relates to warrants held by investors that can be transformed into shares of stock, as well as shares held by company insiders.
Trump Media’s stock are at risk of falling further, Ben Emons, senior portfolio manager at NewEdge Wealth, said in an April 15 research note. The price of the warrants, which give their holders the right to buy the stock at a certain price, has plunged 43% from their March 26 peak and now indicate the share price could decline to $17.50, he said.
“There is plenty of opportunity for the DJT stock price to recover, but it likely goes down first,” Emons added.
NEW YORK — Former New York Gov. David Paterson and his stepson were attacked in New York City on Friday night, authorities said.
The incident occurred just before 9 p.m. on Second Avenue near East 96th Street on the Upper East Side, according to the New York City Police Department.
Police said officers were sent to the scene after an assault was reported. When officers arrived, police say they found a 20-year-old man suffering from facial injuries and a 70-year-old man who had head pain. Both victims were taken to a local hospital in stable condition.
In a statement, a spokesperson for the former governor said the two were attacked while “taking a walk around the block near their home by some individuals that had a previous interaction with his stepson.”
The spokesperson said that they were injured “but were able to fight off their attackers.”
Both were taken to Cornell Hospital “as a precaution,” he added.
Police said no arrests have been made and the investigation is ongoing.
The 70-year-old Paterson, a Democrat, served as governor from 2008 to 2010, stepping into the post after the resignation of Eliot Spitzer following his prostitution scandal. He made history at the time as the state’s first-ever Black and legally blind governor.
Watch CBS News
Be the first to know
Get browser notifications for breaking news, live events, and exclusive reporting.
A 17-year-old boy was critically injured and a person is in custody after a gunman opened fire on a SEPTA bus in North Philadelphia Friday evening, police said.
At around 6:15 p.m., Philadelphia police were notified about a shooting on a SEPTA bus traveling on Allegheny Avenue near 3rd and 4th streets in North Philadelphia, Inspector D F Pace told CBS News Philadelphia.
There were an estimated 30 people on the bus at the time of the shooting, Pace said, but only the 17-year-old boy was believed to have been shot. Investigators said they believe it was a targeted attack on the teenager and that he was shot in the back of the bus at close range.
According to Pace, the SEPTA bus driver alerted a control center about the shooting, which then relayed the message to Philadelphia police, who responded to the scene shortly.
Officers arrived at the scene and found at least one spent shell casing and blood on the bus, but no shooting victim, Pace said. Investigators later discovered the 17-year-old had been taken to Temple University Hospital where he is said to be in critical condition, according to police.
CBS Philadelphia
Through their preliminary investigation, police learned those involved in the SEPTA shooting may have fled in a silver-colored Kia.
Authorities then found a car matching the description of the Kia speeding in the area and a pursuit began, Pace said. Police got help from a PPD helicopter as they followed the Kia, which ended up crashing at 5th and Greenwood streets in East Mount Airy. Pace said the Kia crashed into a parked car.
The driver of the crashed car ran away but police were still able to take them into custody, Pace said.
Investigators believe there was a second person involved in the shooting who ran from the car before it crashed. Police said they believe this person escaped near Allegheny Avenue and 4th Street, leaving a coat behind.
According to Pace, police also found a gun and a group of spent shell casings believed to be involved in the shooting in the same area.
“It’s very possible that there may have been a shooting inside the bus and also shots fired from outside of the bus toward the bus,” Pace said, “We’re still trying to piece all that together at this time.”
This is an active investigation and police are reviewing surveillance footage from the SEPTA bus.