Shares of Trump Media & Technology Group fell to an all-time low at the opening bell on Friday, the first day of trading that its largest shareholder, former President Donald Trump, is allowed to sell his stake in the company behind the Truth Social platform.
Shares of Trump Media, commonly known as TMTG, fell nearly 7 percent to $13.73, valuing the company at less than $3 billion. Trump owns more than half of it.
Trump and other company insiders were unable to profit from the highly volatile stock because of standard lock-up agreements that prevent major stakeholders from selling shares for a period of time after a company goes public. TMTG began trading in March.
Trump owns nearly 115 million shares of the company’s stock, according to filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission. Based on TMTG’s stock price as of Friday morning, Trump’s holdings are worth about $1.6 billion, at least on paper. It’s generally not in the best interests of major stakeholders to even attempt to sell large tranches of their holdings, as doing so could risk a broader sell-off.
Since going public, Trump Media’s stock has soared in value, often riding on news about Trump, the Republican presidential candidate.
A week ago, the company’s shares jumped nearly 12% after Trump said he wouldn’t sell his stock if the lockup was lifted. Shares fell more than 10% after the debate earlier this month between Trump and Democratic nominee, Vice President Kamala Harris. In mid-July, shares jumped more than 31% on the first trading day after the first assassination attempt on Trump.
Trump Media & Technology Group Corp. is worth considerably less now than it was a few months ago. When the company debuted on the Nasdaq in March, its shares hit a high of $79.38.
Truth Social was formed after he was banned from Twitter and Facebook following the Jan. 6, 2021, Capitol riots. Sarasota, Florida-based Trump Media is losing money and struggling to generate revenue. The company lost nearly $58.2 million last year while generating just $4.1 million in revenue, according to regulatory filings.
