Trump media Shares closed below their year-end 2023 levels on Wednesday as maker Truth Social's stock continued to say no ahead of the date on which majority owner Donald Trump can begin selling his stake.
The collapse in DJT's share price, which followed a transient rally in mid-July triggered by the previous president's survival of an assassination attempt, has wiped billions of dollars off the corporate's market capitalization.
Trump Media ended the trading day at $16.98 per share, down 6 percent.
The stock has fallen greater than 75 percent since its intraday high of $79.38 per share, which it reached on its Nasdaq debut in late March following the merger of Trump Media with a special purpose acquisition company.
Trump Media (DJT) share price
The stock price has fluctuated since then as traders and analysts increasingly viewed Trump Media as a meme stock, and its value has risen and fallen with the Republican presidential candidate's political success.
Shares of the SPAC, Digital World Acquisition Corp., traded at $17.50 on the close on December 29, the last trading session of 2023.
They skyrocketed in mid-January, across the time Trump emerged because the clear frontrunner within the Republican primaries.
A Trump Media spokesperson told CNBC: “Trump Media is rapidly expanding our platform while maintaining a strong balance sheet.”
“So far in 2024, we have achieved a major milestone with the launch of our in-app streaming platform on our non-terminable, bespoke content delivery network, while maintaining a strong second quarter financial position with $344 million in cash and cash equivalents and zero debt,” the spokesperson said.
Despite Trump Media having suffered tens of millions in losses in consecutive fiscal quarters and generating little revenue from ad sales at Truth Social, Trump Media's market capitalization is currently around $3.5 billion. At its post-merger peak in late March, the worth was almost 8 billion dollars.
Trump owns nearly 59% of the corporate's outstanding shares, which were price nearly $2 billion at Wednesday's price – about half of its total paper value. Net pricein response to Forbes.
Trump and other company insiders cannot sell their shares until a lock-up period expires, which may very well be as early as September 19.
The looming deadline has fueled speculation about whether Trump will attempt to sell his shares or hold on to his stake.
If he actually sells, he could shake other investors' confidence within the stock and drive the value even further down.
Even if he doesn't, other early investors might. Trump Media asked a Florida judge last month to temporarily bar two corporations involved within the SPAC merger from selling greater than 18 million shares after their lock-up period expires.
The company's request, which described the sale as “imminent,” was rejected.
As the lockdown deadline approached, Trump increasingly posted on other social media platforms, including TikTok and Elon Musk's X.
Nevertheless, Trump spoke about Truth Social in a recent interview with podcaster Lex Fridman.
“The truth is very powerful,” Trump said. “And it's my platform and it's been very powerful, very, very powerful.”
“Truth has become a very successful platform. And I love doing it, and it goes everywhere. Once I do it, it goes everywhere,” he added.
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