🔍 The Numbers Behind Trump Media

1) Trump Media Goes Public 2) $30B Credit Card Settlement, 3) Cocoa Prices Skyrocket and more!

Author

Carbon Finance
March 29, 2024

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Happy Friday!

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Some key data bites from this week that you should know: 

In today’s newsletter:

  • 🔍 Trump Media Goes Public

  • 💳 $30B Credit Card Settlement

  • đŸ«Â Cocoa Prices Skyrocket

Let’s dive right in!

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This might be Donald Trump’s greatest business deal of all time.

On Tuesday, Trump Media & Technology Group went public on the Nasdaq under the ticker “DJT”, catapulting his fortune.

Forbes now estimates Trump's net worth at $6.8B, more than doubling from last year's $2.5B.

Holding at least a 58.1% stake in the company, as revealed by SEC filings, Trump's financial surge aligns with the company's $7.5B market cap.

However, the financials tell a different story: in the first nine months of 2023, the company only made $3.38M in revenue against a net loss of $49M.

This translates to an insane revenue multiple of 2,223x.

Despite the company seeing a net loss, Trump's wealth has seen a massive spike based on the paper gains of his position.

For those considering short selling, good luck. You’ll find that the company is now the most expensive stock to bet against.

Small businesses had a big win this week.

Visa and Mastercard agreed to a landmark $30B settlement aiming to lower the fees that merchants pay for accepting credit and debit cards.

Swipe fees are charged by credit card companies for each card transaction, and merchants often tend to pass these on to the consumer.

Typically, merchants waive these fees if the consumer opts to pay with cash instead.

Under the new settlement, Visa and Mastercard will cut their rates by at least four basis points for the next three years and maintain an average rate at least seven basis points lower than the current for five years.

This adjustment in fees, amounting to roughly $30 billion, represents a substantial financial relief for merchants across the board.

Forget about Nvidia or Bitcoin.

This year, cocoa prices have skyrocketed, more than doubling in value and tripling from where they stood just a year ago.

But why this sudden surge? Over half of the world's cocoa, primarily produced in the Ivory Coast and Ghana, is under threat from rapid climate change.

On top of that, there has been increased instances of black pod disease and swollen shoot virus affecting the crops.

Compounded by the financial crisis in Ghana, farmers are struggling to afford necessary pesticides, further jeopardizing the cocoa supply.

Commodity analysts are sounding the alarm, suggesting that the worst “is still yet to come.”

Catch up on the markets daily for free in under 5 min in just One Read. They provide market highlights, important news and economic analysis in an easy to read simplified format. Don’t waste time filtering through all the stories in the financial world, sign up now and receive their update everyday after close!

🚔 SBF Sentenced. Former FTX CEO Sam Bankman-Fried was sentenced to 25 years in prison - R

✈ CEO Shakeup. Boeing $BA CEO Dave Calhoun will step down at the end of 2024 - CNBC

💳 The Gold Card. Robinhood $HOOD introduced a gold Visa Credit Card with 3% cash back rewards - FT

đŸ€Â Settlement Agreement. A settlement over how Walt Disney World will be developed has been reached between Disney $DIS and Florida - AP

đŸ’ŸÂ Chip Ban. China bans Intel $INTC and AMD $AMD CPUs for use in government offices and servers - TH

Notable Companies Reporting Earnings Next Week:

  • Tuesday (4/2):

    • Paychex $PAYX

  • Wednesday (4/3):

    • Levi Strauss $LEVI

All of the companies that are reporting earnings next week can be viewed here.

Major Trades Published Since 3/22. Trades may be those of family members. [Source: 2iQ]

Buys

  • Michael McCaul (R)

    • Company: Dominion Energy ($D)

      • Amount Purchased: $300K - $600K

    • Company: Unitedhealth Group ($UNH)

      • Amount Purchased: $200K - $500K

    • Company: Humana ($HUM)

      • Amount Purchased: $150K - $350K

    • Company: Uber ($UBER)

      • Amount Purchased: $130K - $300K

Sells

  • Michael McCaul (R)

    • Company: Vanguard S&P 500 ETF ($VOO)

      • Amount Sold: $1M - $2M

    • Company: Philip Morris ($PM)

      • Amount Sold: $351K - $715K

  • Dan Meuser (R)

    • Company: Nvidia ($NVDA)

      • Amount Sold: $280K - $600K

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