Trump Media plummets to new lows on the first day the former U.S. president can sell his shares

Shares of Trump Media & Technology Group Corp. slumped to their lowest level ever at the opening bell Friday, the first day that its biggest shareholder, former U.S. president Donald Trump, is free to sell his stake in the company behind the Truth Social platform.

Shares of Trump Media, commonly called TMTG, tumbled almost seven per cent to US$13.73, putting the value of the company at less than US$3 billion. Trump owns more than half of it.

Trump and other insiders in the company have been unable to cash in on the highly volatile stock due standard lock-up agreements that prevent big stakeholders from selling stakes for a set period after a company becomes publicly traded. TMTG began trading publicly in March.

Trump owns nearly 115 million shares of the company, according to filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission. Based on TMTG’s share price early Friday, Trump’s holdings are worth, at least on paper, about US$1.6 billion. It’s usually not in the best interest of big stakeholders to even attempt to sell large tranches of their stock because it could risk a broader sell-off.

Since going public, shares in Trump Media have gyrated wildly, often depending on news related to Trump, the Republican presidential nominee.

One week ago, the company’s shares jumped nearly 12 per cent after Trump said he wouldn’t sell shares when the lock-up period lifted. The stock dipped more than 10 per cent following the debate earlier this month between Trump and the Democrats’ nominee, U.S. Vice President Kamala Harris. In mid-July, shares climbed more than 31 per cent in the first day of trading following the first assassination attempt on Trump.

Trump Media & Technology Group Corp. is now worth considerably less than several months ago. When the company made its debut on the Nasdaq in March, shares hit a high of US$79.38.

Truth Social came into existence after he was banned from Twitter and Facebook following the Jan. 6, 2021, Capitol riot. Based in Sarasota, Fla., Trump Media has been losing money and struggling to raise revenue. It lost nearly US$58.2 million last year while generating only US$4.1 million in revenue, according to regulatory filings.