Trump Media Shares Hit New Post-IPO Low

Shares in Trump Media on Tuesday fell to their lowest level since the company began trading following a merger in March.

After US markets reopened following the Labor Day weekend, the shares dropped to as low as $17.72 (£13.50) per share before recovering slightly to close at $18.08.

The stock’s prior low was on 28 August, when it dropped below $20 for the first time to $19.38 per share.

The shares are down about 77 percent from their high of $79.38 on 26 March after the firm merged with a special purpose acquisition company to begin public trading.

Share slide

The single-day slide of 7 percent accompanied a drop in other tech stocks.

But the shares tend to follow a “meme stock” pattern in which they change in value based more on public sentiment around former US president Donald Trump, rather than reflecting business fundamentals.

They surged in value following an assassination attempt on Trump in July, when public attention focused on the candidate and he acquired high-profile endorsements from public figures including tech entrepreneur Elon Musk.

Trump owns almost 59 percent of the company’s outstanding shares, worth more than $2bn as of Tuesday’s close, and will be eligible to sell his stake for a considerable profit in late September.

Until now Trump and other executives have been constrained by a six-month lockup period following the merger during which they are not allowed to sell their stakes.

If Trump does sell a significant portion of his stake, this could further impact the firm’s shares, industry-watchers say.

Truth Social

The large market capitalisation of Trump Media is at odds with its relatively small sales of about $770,500 in the first quarter.

Trump Media’s main offering is the Truth Social social media platform, which operates in a similar manner to X, formerly Twitter.

Trump created Truth Social after being temporarily banned from Twitter, YouTube and other services in 2021.

The service has about 2 million users, although figures vary according to different sources.

Trump refrained from using X even after being reinstated, in favor of posting messages on Truth Social, but in August he posted a series of messages ahead of a live interview conducted by X owner Musk.