Trump said he absolutely has no intention of selling his holdings after the lock-up period, and media stock prices of Trump soared during trading. Trump holds nearly 0.115 billion shares of the company, with a market cap of $1.85 billion at the market open on Friday. By the close, the stock price had fallen nearly 80% from its high point in March.
Perhaps Trump's blasting of the Federal Reserve cannot hinder the Fed's actions, but his words are still very influential in certain situations, at least for the media companies he controls.
On Friday, September 13th, Eastern Time, the main media companies primarily held by Trump $Trump Media & Technology (DJT.US)$ (referred to as Trump Media) saw a sudden surge in stock price during trading hours, with the intraday increase rapidly expanding from just over 1% to nearly 30% in less than half an hour. Soon after, it quickly fell back, giving back over half of the increase within 20 minutes, and ultimately closed up by about 11.8%.
More than one media outlet pointed out that the surge in the stock price of Trump Media on Friday was attributable to Trump's own statement. During an election event in California that day, he stated that when the lock-up period for the stock listing expires next Friday, September 20th, he has 'absolutely no intention' of selling his holding of Trump Media shares. Trump made it clear:
"No, I will not sell. People think the reason for the stock price drop is because many people think I will sell. I understand this, but I absolutely have no intention of selling.
Trump Media is currently operating a social media network called Truth Social, which is a competitor of X. On March 26th of this year, the company was listed on the Nasdaq through a merger with the special purpose acquisition company (SPAC) named Digital World Acquisition Corp (DWAC). Trump holds 0.11475 billion shares of Trump Media, accounting for 57%. According to the rules related to the SPAC listing, the shares of the listed company have a lock-up period of about six months.
Some commentators have stated that due to concerns that Trump or other major shareholders may sell a large amount of stocks after the lock-up period, leading to greater selling pressure, Trump Media has experienced a bleak seven-week decline, resulting in a market cap evaporation of tens of billions of dollars. This Friday, Trump's speech directly addressed this investor concern. He said:
Many people think I will sell my stocks. I mean, these stocks are worth billions of dollars. But I don't want to sell my stocks. I won't sell my stocks. I don't need the money.
As of the opening on Friday, Trump's Trump Media shares are valued at approximately $1.85 billion. As long as he doesn't sell, for every $1 increase in the stock price, the nominal value of his holdings will increase by about $0.115 billion. However, Trump Media has seen a significant overall decline since its listing. Despite a sharp increase in the stock price on Friday, it has still fallen by over 77% from the intraday high on March 26, and by over 50% from the high point after Trump's assassination on July 15.
According to estimates from the media, if the stock price of Trump Media falls below $13, Trump's paper gains since the merger with DWAC will be wiped out. If the stock price falls to $12.88, the value of Trump's shares will be below the upper limit of the valuation range for the company's private placement valuation as of December 15, last year, which was $1.478 billion.
It has been pointed out by the media that Trump Media has always been a Meme stock sought after by retail investors, despite its meager underlying business income and lack of profitability, its valuation has soared to astonishing levels. For some people, this stock represents the chances of Trump being elected president to some extent.
The media stated that with Trump's return to the social media platform, formerly known as Twitter, the correlation between his chances of being elected and the stock price has been broken in recent weeks. However, Wall Street News has noticed that after the first TV debate between Trump and Harris on Tuesday night, there was a further decline in the trading activity surrounding Trump, and Trump Media plummeted by about 10.5% on Wednesday, reaching its lowest closing record since its listing in March.
Editor/Somer