Barry Diller says Trump Media is ‘a scam’ and people buying shares are ‘dopes’

• Barry Diller thinks that shareholders of Truth Social’s owner have been scammed.

• The IAC chairman pointed to Trump Media’s low revenue and said he doubts Truth Social will grow.

• Shares for Trump Media and Technology Group initially surged after going public, but have since tumbled.

Barry Diller has a message for Trump Media shareholders: “I think they’re dopes.”

The owner of the Truth Social app, Trump Media and Technology Group, enjoyed a soaring debut when it went public last week, attracting the interest of retail investors and the “meme stock” crowd.

But that moment in the sun was short-lived, and shares of the former president’s social media platform have since come crashing down to earth.

Diller, media mogul and chairman of IAC and Expedia Group, didn’t sound very optimistic about the stock’s future when asked about it during a recent interview — and doesn’t get why people were so excited about it in the first place.

“Why are you even talking about this? It’s a scam,” Diller said in an interview on CNBC’s Squawk Box on Thursday.

TMTG’s total revenue in 2023 was just $4.1 million, according to an SEC filing on Monday — while losing $58 million. Those numbers, Diller suggested, should not indicate “buy” to any reasonable investor.

“It’s ridiculous,” he said. “The company has no revenue.”

Questioning how anyone could see Trump Media as a valuable company, Diller concluded that its shareholders must not have financial soundness in mind when purchasing the stock. “They’re buying it for other reasons,” he said, calling them “dopes.”

Diller likened the surge in Truth Social’s owner to the frenzy around Gamestop and other “meme stocks.”

Diller said the platform offers little opportunity for future growth.

“Why would it be bigger?” he asked, adding that Donald Trump — a major part of the platform’s appeal — is “only interesting now” because he’s “out there entertaining the folks” on the campaign trail.

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TMTG did not return a request for comment before publication.

Truth Social’s barnstorming debut briefly inflated Trump’s net worth to an estimated $7.8 billion, making him richer than George Soros. But just a few days later, that number has tumbled to $6.4 billion, per the Bloomberg Billionaires Index on Friday.

Meanwhile, short-sellers are already betting millions against the company, The New York Times reported, citing data from S3 Partners.

Trump could also find it difficult to materially benefit from Trump Media in the short-term, since he is prevented from selling his shares for another six months as part of a “lock up” period — unless the company’s board allows otherwise.

Read the original article on Business Insider