Shares of former President Donald Trump’s social media company fell 12% on Monday, extending its string of losses, after the company said in a regulatory filing that it could sell millions of additional shares in the coming months.
The filing showed a potential sale of 146.1 million shares of Trump Media & Technology Group, including 114.8 million shares owned by Trump himself. The documents also list an additional 21.5 million shares that could be sold upon exercise of certain warrants issued when the company went public through a blank-check merger with Digital World Acquisition Corp.
Shares of Truth Social’s parent company have pulled back sharply since their market debut on March 26, falling 60% from the opening price of $70.90. Trump is subject to a lock-up agreement that prevents him from personally selling his shares until September, further tying his wealth to the company’s market value. If the price holds, he could make billions of dollars from his stock.
Trump, the presumptive Republican nominee in the 2024 election, began his criminal trial Monday in a Manhattan courthouse as stocks fell. He faces 34 felony counts of falsifying business records related to hush payments to adult film star Stormy Daniels. It is the first criminal trial against a US president and the process is expected to last about six weeks.
Trump is under significant financial pressure after a series of legal problems last year. He owes around $500 million as a result of being found liable in civil fraud, defamation and sexual abuse cases. Trump Media, which was backed by some of the former president’s largest political donors, has offered him a future lifeline and a source of income to pay off those debts.
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Earlier this month, several Democratic-aligned groups called on Congress to investigate Trump Media amid a deluge of news about the company’s dubious hangers-on. Two Florida brothers pleaded guilty in early April to insider trading related to the former president’s social media company. Meanwhile, The Guardian reported that the company was kept afloat by loans from a Russian-American businessman who is under federal investigation for money laundering and insider trading.