Shares of Trump media Shares jumped on Friday, just minutes after majority owner Donald Trump said he had no plans to sell his stake.
“I'm not selling,” said the Republican presidential candidate, who can begin selling his nearly 57 percent stake in lower than per week when a lock-up period expires.
“I have absolutely no intention of selling,” he said.
Trump Media shares rose as much as 25 percent in intraday trading after Trump made a press statement at his golf club in California on Friday afternoon. The stock ended the day up greater than 11 percent, closing at $17.97 per share.
Trading within the stock was briefly interrupted twice attributable to volatilityTrump later complained on Friday concerning the breaks in a post on Truth Social, Trump Media's Twitter-like social media platform.
“Why is NASDAQ stopping the sale of DJT? What right do they have to do that?” Trump wrote.
He threatened to carry the stock exchange and possibly also the US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) “liable for their actions”.
“If they do it again, we will list the shares on the New York Stock Exchange,” Trump wrote, adding, “It is my intention to own these shares for a long period of time.”
The threat got here just hours after Trump made remarks in California, where he said Truth Social was “great for me” while stating that his stake in the corporate was value greater than $2 billion.
“But I don't want to sell my shares. I won't sell my shares,” he said.
“I didn't do it for the money. I did it because I really wanted to have a strong voice, and this is a great voice for me,” he said. “And as long as my voice is there, it will always be good.”
The company's value initially rose sharply when it began trading as DJT on the Nasdaq in late March following the completion of a merger with a special purpose acquisition company.
But the share price has fallen sharply in recent months and has lost as much as 80 percent since its every day high.
“A lot of people think the reason it's down is because a lot of people think I'm selling, and if I sell, it wouldn't be the same,” Trump said Friday.
Trump Media, which reported hundreds of thousands of dollars in losses and low revenue in its most up-to-date quarterly report, said in filings with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) that Truth Social depends upon Trump's continued popularity.
The company still has a market capitalization of greater than $3.7 billion. Analysts have said investing in Trump Media has turn out to be a way for Trump's fans to support him or bet on his political fate.
The company's stock price fell to its post-merger low this week amid concerns that Trump might start selling his shares once he’s free to achieve this.
—
image credit : www.cnbc.com