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The months-long Trump media The slide in the share price of the company, majority owned by former President Donald Trump, continued on Wednesday when shares of the manufacturer Truth Social fell below $20 for the first time more than five months ago.
DJT’s stock price hit a low of $19.38 per share around midday, more than 75 percent below its intraday high on March 26, the day the company made its stock market debut on the Nasdaq stock exchange.
Trump Media ended Wednesday’s trading session down more than 4% at $20.10 per share.
Trump Media share price
Trump Media has also lost more than half its value since its recent surge on July 15, the first day of trading after the Republican presidential candidate narrowly escaped an assassination attempt at a campaign rally in Pennsylvania.
A Trump Media spokesperson did not immediately respond to CNBC’s request for comment on the recent stock price drop.
Trump owns nearly 59 percent of Trump Media’s stock. Even after Trump’s stake has lost much of its value, he is still worth more than $2.2 billion at Wednesday’s share price, according to Forbes — more than half of his net worth on paper.
Trump and other company executives and insiders are bound by lock-up agreements that have so far prohibited them from cashing in their shares.
However, the lock-up periods expire on September 20. From that point on, Trump could decide to start selling his shares.
Trump has given no indication that he plans to sell his shares when he is able, but there is speculation that he may do so, especially after Trump Media’s recent earnings reports show the company losing millions of dollars and generating little revenue.
If he does sell – or even makes it seem likely – investors could lose confidence in Trump Media, a fact the company itself acknowledged in its filings with regulators.
Similar to other meme stocks, investing in Trump Media is now seen as a way for Trump’s supporters to support him and bet on his chances of defeating Democratic Vice President Kamala Harris in the presidential election.
But the company has noted that its fledgling social media platform, Truth Social, depends at least in part on Trump’s continued popularity and reputation. Trump, who owns the most popular Truth Social account, has recently started posting more on X, his former messaging app of choice, and on TikTok.
The recent slide also coincided with Trump’s changing political and legal circumstances. Trump’s chances of winning the election appear to have diminished after President Joe Biden withdrew his re-election bid and endorsed Harris as his successor.
Trump Media also announced last month that it had reached an agreement with investment firm Yorkville Advisors that could allow the company to issue up to $2.5 billion worth of stock to Yorkville.
The deal would “guarantee access to additional capital if needed to pursue large strategic opportunities as we grow our portfolio through the acquisition of assets and technologies in the Patriot economy,” Trump Media CEO Devin Nunes said in a July 3 press release.
The company stated in a separate regulatory filing: “The sale and issuance of shares to Yorkville will result in dilution to our existing shareholders and the sale of the shares acquired from Yorkville, or the perception that such sales may occur, could cause a decline in the price of our common shares.”
