{"id":50297,"date":"2026-11-08T11:20:49","date_gmt":"2026-11-08T09:20:49","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.channelafrica.co.za\/channelafrica\/?post_type=news&#038;p=50297"},"modified":"2026-11-08T11:20:49","modified_gmt":"2026-11-08T09:20:49","slug":"us-president-medias-investors-lost-2-2-billion","status":"publish","type":"news","link":"https:\/\/www.channelafrica.co.za\/channelafrica\/news\/us-president-medias-investors-lost-2-2-billion\/","title":{"rendered":"US President Media\u2019s investors lost $2.2 billion"},"content":{"rendered":"<div>By the time Ske Jarzenske cast a third straight ballot for United States (US) President Donald Trump, he had something extra riding on the outcome: his brokerage account.<\/div>\n<div><\/div>\n<div>The 52-year-old resident of Austin, Texas, had poured 20% of his net worth into Trump Media &amp; Technology Group (TMTG), convinced that a second Trump presidency would make him money.<\/div>\n<div><\/div>\n<div>Now, Jarzenske\u2019s investment is down 88.5%, according to a Charles Schwab statement \u200bhe showed Reuters on the condition that the dollar amount not be published.<\/div>\n<div><\/div>\n<div>He\u2019s one of the buyers who, along with the rest of the firm\u2019s outside investors, have collectively absorbed more than $2.2 billion in losses, according to a Reuters estimate. \u201cIt\u2019s been very disappointing and \u200cdifficult to watch,\u201d said Jarzenske.<\/div>\n<div><\/div>\n<div>Trump Media shares collapsed as the company\u2019s social media business burned through cash while struggling to attract new clients and its investments in cryptocurrencies fell sharply in value. Even hardcore boosters of the stock told Reuters they are losing hope as shares hit record lows.<\/div>\n<div><\/div>\n<div>The <i>Reuters<\/i> estimate of investor losses is based on the performance of shares sold into the market by Trump Media, its predecessor entities, including Digital World Acquisition Corp. and Trump Media &amp; Technology Group, as well as insiders such as the founders and management.<\/div>\n<div><\/div>\n<div>The figure is also adjusted to account for share buybacks and is based on company filings and court records detailing share issuances and sales.<\/div>\n<div><\/div>\n<div>The Reuters methodology is consistent with the mark-to-market accounting practices fund managers are required to \u200buse when calculating their performance, in line with the long-running Reuters practice for assessing investor losses or gains on shares and was reviewed by three finance professors who said it was the generally accepted way to assess investor gains and losses.<\/div>\n<div><\/div>\n<div>Trump Media filings show dozens of equity transactions since 2021, \u200bwhich generated $2.7 billion.<i> Reuters <\/i>calculated losses or gains for each tranche depending on whether the shares currently trade above or below their issue price. Total losses were reduced to adjust for the impact of share buybacks.<\/div>\n<div><\/div>\n<div>In response to a detailed \u2060list of questions from <i>Reuters<\/i>, Trump Media said in an emailed statement: \u201cTMTG has built a strong balance sheet and is focused on creating value for shareholders, including its proposed merger with TAE Technologies.\u201d TAE Technologies is a nuclear fusion energy firm.<\/div>\n<div><\/div>\n<div>The company also vigorously disputed<i> Reuter<\/i>s methodology, saying, \u201cYour dubious, biased calculations misrepresent the facts, \u200bmarket dynamics, and TMTG\u2019s public filings.\u201d<\/div>\n<div><\/div>\n<div>The company declined to specify flaws in <i>Reuters\u2019<\/i> calculations, but its general counsel, Scott Glabe, said in a letter to <i>Reuters <\/i>that \u201cmillions of shares of Trump Media change hands in the public markets every trading day, and information about whether any given seller achieved a profit or loss is unknowable.\u201d<\/div>\n<div><\/div>\n<div>&#8211;Reuters&#8211;<\/div>\n","protected":false},"featured_media":50298,"template":"","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_members_access_role":[],"_members_access_error":"","_links_to":"","_links_to_target":""},"news-type":[44],"class_list":["post-50297","news","type-news","status-publish","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","news-type-finance","entry"],"acf":{"short_description":"Trump Media filings show dozens of equity transactions since 2021.","published_date":"","news_description":"Trump Media filings show dozens of equity transactions since 2021.","form_embed":"","author":"","image_caption":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.channelafrica.co.za\/channelafrica\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/news\/50297","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.channelafrica.co.za\/channelafrica\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/news"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.channelafrica.co.za\/channelafrica\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/news"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/www.channelafrica.co.za\/channelafrica\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/news\/50297\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":50300,"href":"https:\/\/www.channelafrica.co.za\/channelafrica\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/news\/50297\/revisions\/50300"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.channelafrica.co.za\/channelafrica\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/50298"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.channelafrica.co.za\/channelafrica\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=50297"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"news-type","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.channelafrica.co.za\/channelafrica\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/news-type?post=50297"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}