For that to be true, it would have needed to be worth $44B in the first place, which it absolutely was not. But there is no doubt that his mismanagement has tanked the value of the investment. He's a narcissist so never see it that way, but the whole rest of the world knows that.
As a business? Probably not worth that valuation. As a propaganda machine to be able to influence a decent percentage of the population? I think it was.
There was a clause in the contract that said if he backed out he would have to pay $1 billion. Who knew that would actually have saved him way more to exercise that clause.