Trump's media company plans move into financial services
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President Donald Trump: Photo: Andrew Harnik/Getty Images
Trump Media and Technology Group, the parent company of Truth Social, announced a plan to expand into financial services — including customized investment vehicles geared toward conservatives.
Why it matters: Shares in TMTG, which is majority owned by President Trump, jumped more than 11% Wednesday on the news.
- The news raises the prospect of a Trump-owned company having to seek approvals from Trump-appointed regulators for its expansion.
- It also could, at the same time, put TMTG into competition with Elon Musk's recent financial expansion at X.
Zoom in: The plan, which involves the launch of a new brand called Truth.Fi, is broken into two distinct phases. The first is internal, consisting of strategies to invest a portion of the company's own cash reserves.
- TMTG's board approved up to $250 million to be invested in traditional investment vehicles, cryptocurrencies, customized ETFs and other investment vehicles developed with Charles Schwab, which is also providing custody services.
- The second phase consists of offering at least some of those investment vehicles to the public, although those details are far less clear. The company said it plans to roll out Truth.Fi products and services in 2025.
Investments are expected to focus on "American growth, manufacturing, and energy companies as well as investments that strengthen the Patriot Economy," TMTG said in its announcement.
- "Truth.Fi is a natural expansion of the Truth Social movement," TMTG CEO Devin Nunes said.
- "Developing American First investment vehicles is another step toward our goal of creating a robust ecosystem through which American patriots can protect themselves from the ever-present threat of cancellation, censorship, debanking, and privacy violations committed by Big Tech and woke corporations."
Reality check: ETF's can be costly to launch and maintain, and usually take at least four months to bring to market, including time required for approvals from the Securities and Exchange Commission.
What we're watching: Trump's own financial interests could be directly impacted by the new venture.
- Besides his stake in TMTG, the President recently launched a crypto meme coin, which as of Wednesday had a $27 billion fully diluted market cap, including his own tokens that he'll be able to sell gradually over the next three years.
