Taking a hit: Donald Trump owns a 65 percent stake in the company
Yesterday, Donald Trump saw more than £400m wiped from his fortune as shares in his social media company fell in the wake of his criminal conviction.
New York-listed Trump Media & Technology (TMT) fell as much as 9 percent in choppy trading a day after it was found guilty of falsifying documents to cover up money payments to porn star Stormy Daniels.
The former president owns a 65 percent stake in the company, which controls his social media platform, Truth Social.
TMT is a favorite among so-called ‘meme stock’ traders – those who accumulate stocks that became popular on social media forums like Reddit, even as they are shunned by mainstream Wall Street investors. It also offers an opportunity for Trump supporters to bet on his political resurgence.
The company’s more than 600,000 shareholders are primarily retail investors.
The loss-making company’s valuation of £7.2bn (before the verdict against Trump) meant it was trading at a valuation of more than 2,000 times its £3.2m revenue in 2023.
Art Hogan, chief market strategist at wealth manager B. Riley Wealth, said: ‘The volatility is not surprising. The valuation of those stocks has always been a question mark.
“It is certainly not making money and is trading at an almost unfathomable level.”
The shares have been hugely volatile since joining the stock market in March, reaching a high of over £60 before falling as low as £37 yesterday.