Shares of Trump Media & Technology Group (DJT) rose as much as 15% on Friday and were briefly halted on volatility after Donald Trump said he would not sell his shares in the company, home to Trump’s social media platform Truth Social. Shares pared gains to around 9% shortly after his statement.
Trump, who made the announcement on his Truth Social account, has a roughly 60% stake in DJT. At current levels of about $30 per share, Trump Media has a market cap of about $6.5 billion, giving the newly elected president a share of about $3.9 billion.
“There have been false, untrue and probably illegal rumors and/or statements made by perhaps market manipulators or short sellers that I am interested in selling shares of Truth. THOSE RUMORS OR STATEMENTS ARE FALSE. I HAVE NO INTENTION TO SELL!” he wrote in the post, repeating previous comments about his intention not to sell.
“I hereby request that the people who have spread these false rumors or statements, and who may have done so in the past, be immediately investigated by the relevant authorities,” he added. “The truth is an important part of our historic victory, and I believe in it deeply.”
The company’s shares have been on a wild ride over the past week. On Thursday, the stock fell nearly 23% to reverse gains from the day before, when Trump emerged victorious over Kamala Harris in the presidential election.
With Friday’s upward move, the stock is down just 2% over the past five days, although shares are up more than 60% over the past month.
In September, shares in Trump Media traded at their lowest levels since the company’s debut, following the expiration of the much-discussed lock-up period. Stocks eventually recovered from their lows as both domestic and foreign betting markets began to shift in favor of a Trump victory.
Trump founded Truth Social after being kicked off major social media apps like Facebook (META) and Twitter, now X, following the Capitol riots of January 6, 2021. Trump has since been reinstated on those platforms. He officially returned to his post at X in mid-August, after a hiatus of about a year.
While Truth Social looks to take on social media incumbents, the company’s fundamentals have long been in question.
On Tuesday, DJT dropped its third-quarter results after the market closed, showing a net loss of $19.25 million for the quarter ended September 30. This was smaller than the $26.03 million the company reported in the year-ago period.
DJT also reported revenue of $1.01 million, a slight year-over-year decline compared to the $1.07 million it reported in the third quarter of 2023. Over the past nine months ended September 30, revenue is down 23% compared to compared to the previous year. period.
