Valuable Name

What is in a name? A rose by any other name would smell as sweet. But what is that name worth in dollars or shares of stock?

If that name is Trump, it is worth millions with no work or other effort required. Donnie received 90% of the shares in Truth Social simply for the use of his name and image. It seemed like a safe bet to investors. When Donnie was president, he had 88 million Twitter followers. Then Twitter threw him under the bus. Truth Social figured the Trump name would bring 50 million followers to Truth Social in the run-up to the 2024 presidential election. Truth Social’s stock was going for $175 before it even began operations. Truth Social would be bigger than Twitter, bigger than Google! Everyone would be swimming in money.

Then Truth Social debuted. It was hard to get on to. The true market for Donnie’s rants proved to be about 4 million followers. The US Attorney in Brooklyn was investigating Donnie’s businesses and banks were reluctant to float loans to him. Truth Social stock dropped to $18. No one was swimming in money.

So what did Donnie do? He strong-armed the guys actually running the company. He insisted that they “gift” 10% of their Trump Social shares to Melania. The only thing better than owning 90% of a failing company is owning (along with your lovely wife) 91%.

They refused, claiming that they couldn’t afford the tax burden on that “gift”.

Donnie did not do what any strong-arming Mafia boss would do. He did not send the guys to the bottom of NY Harbor in concrete overshoes though he could probably get away with it. Instead, he fired them. They replied with lawsuits and requested “whistleblower” protection.

The bad news is that Donnie is subject to yet more lawsuits. The good news is that Melania got her personal shares in Truth Social. It’s good to be a Trump.

By Ed Dufton