Trump Media’s $5.3 Billion Selloff Deepens as 270% Rally Fizzles

Bailey Lipschultz
·3 min read
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(Bloomberg) -- Donald Trump’s social media startup tumbled on Monday, extending a two-week slump, after the company took a first step toward allowing the former president and other insiders to capitalize on their stakes.

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Trump Media & Technology Group Corp., parent of Truth Social, filed to register shares, including those linked to warrants. The move could ultimately bring forward sales from insiders that are currently not permitted until September.

The stock slumped 18% to $26.61, cutting its year-to-date gain to 52%, after touching the lowest level since before Trump’s rival Ron DeSantis quit the primary race in January. DeSantis’s exit sparked an 88% spike to extend a rally that began after Trump’s victory in the Iowa caucuses.

The firm behind Truth Social has captivated individual investors who piled into the stock as a way to show support for Trump’s 2024 re-election campaign. While the stock soared some 270% in the lead up to and start of its trading this year. It has tumbled more than 65% from a debut intraday peak.

Warrants, which are tied to the stock and can be exchanged with cash for shares of the company, sank 15% to $11.62. The company has had its market value slashed by more than $5 billion from a peak after debuting in March.

The slump means the paper windfall for the former president has dropped to $2.1 billion from more than $5 billion in a matter of weeks. However, if the stock can hold above the $17.50 mark, Trump and insiders would be in line to get an additional 40 million shares to divvy up. Even after the latest slide, that so-called earnout would be worth $1.1 billion.

The company registered as many as 146 million common shares, as well as up to 21 million shares that are issuable upon the exercise of warrants. The filing also registered up to 4 million warrants to purchase common stock. All securities being registered are either held by or underlie securities held by existing holders of Trump Media.

Blank-Check

A filing to register shares for resale is normal for blank-check deals, like the one Trump Media completed last month to be a public company. It is worth noting that the filing doesn’t necessarily indicate that a sale has begun, or will occur in the future.

Trump Media now needs the US Securities and Exchange Commission to review the paperwork and provide any feedback before deeming the filing effective. Once that has happened, warrants and $11.50 in cash can be swapped for shares while insiders like the former President could gain board approval to start selling stock. Insiders are currently restricted from selling any shares until September.

Read more: Trump In Line for Extra SPAC Payday Despite $4.5 Billion Selloff

Trump is embroiled in a lawsuit with two Trump Media co-founders who claim he tried to dilute their stakes. A Delaware judge granted their request to amend the suit to include allegations that Trump retaliated against them by locking up their shares for six months, which they claim will cause “irreparable harm” to their finances. Trump himself is subject to the same restrictions.

Company lawyers said share lockups are common in blank-check transactions, and that allowing the co-founders to “dump” their stock on the market would “harm the company and other stockholders.”

Read more: Trump Media Co-Founders Challenging Six-Month Share Lockup

Meanwhile, Trump’s first criminal trial started Monday in Manhattan, where he’s accused of falsifying business records to hide a hush-money payment to a porn star before the 2016 election. It’s one of four criminal prosecutions Trump is facing as he campaigns to return to the White House.

(Updates stock move throughout.)

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