In a lawsuit filed on March 24 in Florida state court, former U.S. President Donald Trump asserted that two co-founders of Trump Media & Technology Group must give up their stock in the company.
The co-founders, Andy Litinsky and Wes Moss, are accused of setting up the corporate governance structure of the newly public Trump Media improperly. Trump Media & Technology Group is the parent company of the Truth Social social media platform. Litinsky and Moss are also accused of failing to properly launch Truth Social and failing to find an appropriate merger partner.
Litinsky and Moss, former contestants on Donald Trump’s reality TV show, “The Apprentice,” had previously sued Trump in Delaware Chancery Court over their 8.6 percent stake in Trump Media, claiming that Trump wanted millions of extra shares, diluting their own stake. According to AP News, the company was valued at $5.9 billion as of April 2.
According to Trump’s suit, Litinsky and Moss mishandled an attempt to take the company public years ago. It claims that their February lawsuit is but one of many attempts they made to prevent the company from going public. Trump Media ultimately went public by merging with a special purpose acquisition company (SPAC) in March.
Donald Trump owns 57.3 percent of Trump Media with 78,750,000 shares. The company reported a net loss of $58 million in 2023.
Additional Reading
Trump sues two Trump Media co-founders, seeking to void their stock in the company, AP News (April 2, 2024)
Trump Sues Truth Social Company Co-Founders to Zero Them Out, Yahoo Finance (April 2, 2024)
Trump social media company sues co-founders, alleging ‘reckless and wasteful’ decisions, The Hill (April 2, 2024)
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