Former U.S. President and Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump speaks during a news conference at Trump National Golf Club in Los Angeles on September 13, 2024 in Rancho Palos Verdes, California.
Robyn Beck | Afp | Getty Images
stocks Trump Media On Friday, majority owner Donald Trump fired back moments after he said he had no plans to sell his stake.
“I’m not selling,” said the Republican presidential candidate, who could begin cashing out his roughly 57% stake less than a week after the lock-up agreement expires.
“I have no intention of selling,” he said.
Shares of Trump Media jumped as much as 25% in intraday trading after Trump’s comments to the press at a golf club in California on Friday afternoon. Shares closed the day at $17.97 per share, up more than 11%.
Trading activity in the stock was briefly halted twice due to volatility. Trump complained about the outages in a post Friday on Truth Social, a Twitter-like social media platform owned by Trump Media.
“Why is NASDAQ stopping DJT sales? What right do they have to do that?” Trump wrote.
He threatened to hold the stock market and possibly the Securities and Exchange Commission “accountable for what they do.”
“If they do it again, we’re going to list the stock on the New York Stock Exchange,” Trump said, adding, “It’s my intention to own this stock for a long time.”
The threat came hours after Trump gave a speech in California where he said Truth Social was “great for me” and noted that his stake in the company was worth more than $2 billion.
“But I don’t want to sell my shares. I’m not going to sell my shares,” he said.
He said, “I didn’t do it for the money. I did it because I wanted to have a really strong voice, and it’s a great voice for me.” “And as long as my voice is there, it will always be good.”
The company’s value initially rose when it began trading on the Nasdaq as DJT in late March after completing a merger with a special-purpose buyout firm.
But shares have fallen as much as 80% from their intraday peak in recent months.
“A lot of people think the reason it’s going down is because a lot of people think I’m going to sell, and if I do, it’s not going to be the same,” Trump said Friday.
Trump Media, which reported millions of dollars in losses over little revenue in its most recent quarterly earnings reports, said in SEC filings that Truth Social depends on Trump’s continued popularity.
The company still boasts a market capitalization of over $3.7 billion. Investing in Trump Media has become a way for Trump fans to support him or bet on his political fortunes, analysts said.
The company fell to a post-merger low this week amid concerns that Trump might start selling off its stock once he is freed.
— CNBC’s Josephine Rozzelle contributed reporting.
