Trump Media stock plummeted Friday after company insiders, including former president Donald Trump, got the green light to begin selling shares.
Shares for the owner of Trump’s Truth Social fell as much as 8% to $13.50 on Friday morning before a slight recovery. Shares were trading down just under 4.5% at $14.05 as of publication.
The stock’s lackluster performance comes as major indexes pared back gains after skyrocketing on Thursday following the Federal Reserve’s rate cut announcement. Both the S&P 500 and Dow hit all-time highs Thursday on the news. Both indexes, along with the Nasdaq, were down less than 1% on Friday.
It’s unclear if any insiders have sold any of their shares, but Trump in particular has a lot to gain from selling. The former president owns about 57% of the company, or just under 115 million shares. Trump’s stake was worth about $1.6 billion on Friday and selling any of it could bring him a major windfall.
Despite the golden opportunity, Trump said during a press conference last week that he would not sell his shares. With that one statement, the stock skyrocketed 27%.
Trump Media went public in March through a special purpose acquisition company (SPAC), and since then its share price has fluctuated wildly. The stock often rises and falls based on Trump’s political fortune. Shares shot up after Trump’s first debate with President Joe Biden but have lost more than half of their value since vice president Kamala Harris took over as the Democratic presidential candidate.
Moreover, the company’s weak financial performance has experts questioning whether its stock price should really be as high as it is. The company brought in just $1.6 million in revenue in the first half of 2024, all while losing more than $300 million over the same period.
