Having finally launched its initial public offering after months of hype and teasing, Newsmax then had to try and keep up the momentum. An April 8 article by Sandy Fitzgerald was a stenography piece quoting her boss:
Newsmax CEO Chris Ruddy, in a video highlighting the company’s stock offerings and the day he rang the bell at the New York Stock Exchange, said the company has a “special mission” to deliver information to the American people.
“You know a journey of a thousand miles begins with one step, but also, it takes a lot of people that want to contribute to make that journey successful,” Ruddy, shown at the stock exchange with several of the network’s stars, comments.
“The people on our pilgrimage believe that we have a special mission, which is to give the American people — this special country — the information they need to make great decisions that will affect the world, shape the future, and improve our freedoms,” he adds.
An anonymously written April 9 article touted its claimed audience growth:
Newsmax Inc. (NYSE: NMAX) on Wednesday announced that a new Nielsen ratings report shows the Company is rising across all dayparts with audience growth and almost every single show – making Newsmax the fifth most-watched channel in all of cable.
The Nielsen first quarter 2025 report was recently released and showed Newsmax racking up significant gains in the past five years – growing audience by 690% in Total Day and 1,027% in Prime.
[…]Last week, Newsmax Inc. successfully completed its IPO and listed on the NYSE under the ticker symbol “NMAX.” The Company raised $300 million between its recent pre-IPO and IPO raises.
Later in April, Newsmax posted a page claiming to document “The Newsmax Reach,” filled with self-promotion. It touted its ratings again in a May 2 article credited only to “Newsmax Wires”:
ewsmax continues to see strong ratings growth the first month of Q2 2025 following a record-setting Q1 2025 – with Total Audience growing by 50% as 33 million viewers tuned in.
“It’s rare for a cable news network to continually see such strong ratings growth like Newsmax has,” Jason Villar, VP of Research said.
Newsmax CEO Chris Ruddy added, “Newsmax continues to offer powerful content that keeps drawing viewers.”
“It’s clear, Americans continue to vote with their remote controls for Newsmax,” he said.
Newsmax announced its first quarterly report as a public company in an unbylined May 15 article. It kicked off the usual self-promotional blather:
“We are thrilled to share our first earnings results as a publicly traded company since we listed on the New York Stock Exchange in March,” commented Christopher Ruddy, CEO of Newsmax Inc.
“This milestone marks the beginning of an exciting new chapter for us as a public company. I want to sincerely thank everyone who participated in both our private raise and IPO — your support made this achievement possible.”
Ruddy continued, “Newsmax has grown into the fourth highest-rated cable news channel reaching 60 million homes through our main Newsmax channel, our free streaming channel Newsmax2, the Newsmax App and its streaming service Newsmax+, our website Newsmax.com and our publications such as Newsmax Magazine.
“Newsmax now reaches 20 million combined social media followers through our various accounts, with the best per-follower engagement rate in TV news. Our growth is due in part to our continued mission of providing those Americans with balanced coverage, diverse viewpoints and open debates on the issues they care about.”
The bad news — that Newsmax is still a money-loser — was buried far down in the article:
Newsmax reported a quarterly Net Loss of $(17.2) million as compared to a Net Loss of $(50.7) million reported in the prior year quarter. While operating expenses increased this quarter, including regulatory, compliance and reporting costs associated with public company requirements, there were significant legal and settlement expenses in the prior year quarter related to the Smartmatic legal settlement.
As we noted (but Newsmax refused to detail), Newsmax paid $40 million to Smartmatic. Dominion has a pending defamation suit against Newsmax on similar charges of false reporting regarding the 2020 election.