- Trump Media shares fell nearly 9 percent in after-hours trading Thursday
- He owns 65 percent of the company and could lose $532 million.
- Follow DailyMail.com’s live coverage of the verdict in the historic Trump trial
Shares of Trump Media & Technology Group, owner of the social media site Truth Social, plummeted Thursday after former President Donald Trump was convicted in his hush money trial.
A New York jury found Trump guilty of falsifying business records in a scheme to illegally influence the 2016 election through hush payments to a porn actor who said the two had sex.
Shares of Trump Media fell nearly 9 percent in after-hours trading Thursday as news of the verdict emerged.
The stock, which trades under the ticker symbol ‘DJT,’ has been extraordinarily volatile since its debut in late March, joining the group of meme stocks that are prone to bouncing from highs to lows as investors with deep pockets try capture bullish momentum. swing at the right moment.
Earlier this month, Trump Media reported that it lost more than $300 million last quarter, according to its first earnings report as a publicly traded company.
Truth Social shares fell 9 percent after Trump’s guilty verdict, meaning the former president could lose $532 million in stock value.
It was trading at $48.44 after the closing bell. It had closed at $51.12 during regular trading on Thursday, giving it a valuation of $9 billion.
The former president owns 65 percent of the company and the drop in share price would be equivalent to a $532 million drop in the value of Trump’s shares, according to Forbes.
Trump’s net worth was $7.8 billion as of market close at 4 p.m. ET, making him the 334th richest person in the world, according to Forbes calculations.
Most of Trump’s fortune comes from his $5.9 billion stake in Trump Media, which appears to be losing $5.4 billion at the after-hours share price.
A jury of seven men and five women in Manhattan Criminal Court deliberated for nearly 10 hours before convicting the former president of 34 counts of falsifying business records on Thursday.
It was the first time a former US president faced a criminal trial and the verdict could alter the 2024 White House race, marking a pivotal moment in US history.
The verdict comes after five weeks of dramatic evidence and 22 witnesses questioned on the stand.
The 34 charges Trump faces each carry a potential maximum sentence of up to four years in prison. The sentencing date is set for July 11 at 10 a.m. ET.
Prosecutors spoke of a plot by Trump to “corrupt” the 2016 election by hiding a $130,000 payment from his “fixer” Michael Cohen to porn star Stormy Daniels.
Daniels alleged that she and Trump had sex a decade earlier, which he has denied.
The former president owns 65 percent of the company and the share price drop would be equivalent to a $532 million drop in the value of Trump’s shares.
The case featured explosive evidence from Daniels and exposed the “catch-and-kill” practices of the National Enquirer tabloid, which bought stories that could be damaging to Trump and suppressed them.
But the actual criminal charges concern something more prosaic: the refunds Trump signed for Cohen for the payment.
The refunds, paid by Trump in monthly installments, were recorded as legal expenses.
Prosecutors say it was a fraudulent label designed to conceal the purpose of the hush money transaction and unlawfully interfere in the 2016 election.
Defense attorneys argued that Cohen actually performed substantial legal work for Trump and his family and was paid for it.
