The guilty verdict on Thursday hurt the stock of Donald Trump’s social media company.
Trump Media & Technology Corp. DJT, +1.41% runs the former president’s social media company Truth Social. On Thursday, the stock price ended extended trading down 6%, after falling as much as 14% right after Trump was found guilty on all 34 counts of falsifying business records in his hush-money trial.
Since going public in March, when the company merged with Digital World Acquisitions Corp., a special purpose acquisition company, the stock has been on a rough ride. In its first few days as a public company, the stock went up more than 30%. But in the weeks that followed, it dropped as much as 50%.
Before and after the merger, Trump’s media business got as much attention as a meme stock, and its value has nothing to do with how well it actually does its job.
Trump owns about 70% of the company’s stock. In the first few days of trading, his net worth almost tripled. Because of things in the merger agreement called “lock-up provisions,” Trump can’t sell or borrow against his shares for six months after the deal closed.
At first, short sellers were interested in the shares, which is why the company launched a loud public offensive against them.