All posts tagged: Trump Media & Technology Group Corp

Trump receives 36 million more shares of Trump Media as bonus

Trump receives 36 million more shares of Trump Media as bonus

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Republican presidential candidate and former U.S. President Donald Trump gestures as he arrives to Trump tower during the day of his trial over charges that he falsified business records to conceal money paid to silence porn star Stormy Daniels in 2016, in New York City, U.S. , April 19, 2024.  Eduardo Munoz | Reuters Former President Donald Trump received 36 million more shares of Trump Media Technology Group on Friday, according to a newly filed disclosure Tuesday with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The shares were part of a contractual “earnout bonus” that Trump’s eponymous media company agreed to shortly before it went public in March. At Tuesday’s closing price of $49.93, Trump’s newly awarded shares were worth around $1.8 billion, although he is prohibited from selling them until a six-month lockup period expires. The additional shares bring Trump’s total in the newly public company to 114,750,000. At Tuesday’s closing price, their value on paper is over $5.7 billion. The windfall for Trump comes as Trump Media’s stock price has rocketed up 50% in the past seven days, after …

Trump Media shares rise again, jump 50% in the past week

Trump Media shares rise again, jump 50% in the past week

Published by skeptic

Jonathan Raa | Nurphoto | Getty Images Trump Media shares climbed 7% Tuesday, continuing a rise that has seen the Truth Social owner surge about 50% in the past week. DJT was trading at roughly $50 a share, about 30% below its opening price of $70.90 in late March. The stock has had several volatile days in the past month, trading at a high of about $60 a share and a low of just over $20 per share. Trump Media’s rise has come without significant news about its finances improving. The company’s social media business had $58 million in losses last year and just $4.1 million in revenue. More news on Donald Trump The recent climb in the stock may be the result of steps the company has taken to target short sellers, according to Jay Ritter, a business professor at the University of Florida who is an expert on initial public offerings. “In the last week or so, the company has informed its shareholders how to make it difficult to loan their shares to short …

Trump Media shares soar more than 12% in afternoon trading

Trump Media shares soar more than 12% in afternoon trading

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Jonathan Raa | Nurphoto | Getty Images The share price of Trump Media soared by more than 12% in afternoon trading Monday, continuing a stunning rise that began in mid-April. The DJT ticker was up more than $5 per share just before 1 p.m. ET. Trump Media owns the Truth Social app frequently used by the company’s majority shareholder, former President Donald Trump, who is also the presumptive Republican presidential nominee this year. “TRUTH SOCIAL IS THE REAL VOICE OF AMERICA!!!” Trump wrote in a post on the site earlier Monday. The company began public trading on March 26 with a price of more than $70 per share. Over the next several weeks, share prices cratered, ending up with a low closing price of $22.80 on April 16. Stock Chart IconStock chart icon DJT share price Since then, Trump Media shares have more than doubled in price, adding billions of dollars to the company’s market capitalization, and to the ex-president’s stake. The gains have occurred without any significant news about the company’s bottom line improving. …

Trump Media CEO asks House GOP to launch stock manipulation probe

Trump Media CEO asks House GOP to launch stock manipulation probe

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Rep. Devin Nunes, R-Calif., ranking member of the House Intelligence Committee, speaks during an impeachment inquiry hearing in Washington, Nov. 13, 2019. Andrew Harrer | Bloomberg | Getty Images Trump Media CEO Devin Nunes on Tuesday urged House Republican committee leaders to investigate possible “unlawful manipulation” of the company’s stock. Nunes, himself a former House GOP chair, in a letter asked them to probe “anomalous trading” of the stock in order to gauge the extent of the alleged manipulation and “whether any laws including RICO statutes and tax evasion laws were violated.” The request doubles down on Nunes’ claim that Trump Media, which trades under the ticker DJT, is the apparent victim of “naked” short selling, the practice of selling a company’s shares without first borrowing them for that purpose. Trump Media, which began trading on the Nasdaq on March 26 after completing a lengthy public merger, was far and away the most expensive U.S. stock to short as of early April. Brokers therefore “have a significant financial incentive to lend non-existent shares,” Nunes wrote. The …

Trump Media shares plunge before former president’s stock bonus

Trump Media shares plunge before former president’s stock bonus

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Jonathan Raa | Nurphoto | Getty Images Trump Media shares fell 8% Tuesday as former President Donald Trump qualified for an expected earnout bonus. DJT closed at $32.57 per share, about 50% below its opening price last month of more than $70. Trump will receive an additional 36 million shares, worth about $1.15 billion, because the stock closed above a $17.50 minimum share price. The earnout was contingent on the stock reaching the benchmark for 20 trading days within a 30-trading-day period. Trump, the majority shareholder in DJT, already owns 78.75 million shares. The former president’s stake in the company will be worth about $3.7 billion with the earnout bonus. A spokesperson for Trump Media did not respond to CNBC’s request for comment about the earnout. The company also released a statement Tuesday highlighting steps shareholders could take to prevent the lending of their stock for short selling. On Friday, Trump Media warned the Nasdaq CEO of “potential market manipulation” of the company’s stock by “naked” short selling of shares. Don’t miss these exclusives from …

Trump set to get millions more Trump Media shares

Trump set to get millions more Trump Media shares

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Anna Barclay | Getty Images Former President Donald Trump is poised to receive an additional 36 million shares of Trump Media on Tuesday — an “earnout” bonus worth more than $1.25 billion, at Monday’s price. Shares of Trump Media, which owns the Truth Social app, were trading at around $35 per share midday Monday, about half the price per share they debuted at in March. But that price is twice the $17.50 benchmark minimum share price, which the DJT ticker has to hit by the close of trading Tuesday, for Trump to become eligible for the extra so-called earnout shares. That earnout is contingent on the benchmark being hit for 20 trading days within a 30 trading-day period, beginning March 25. Tuesday is the 20th day, and it is very unlikely that DJT will fall below the benchmark price by the end of that day. Trump Media’s share price was down about 1.8% as of 12:17 p.m. ET. The 36 million additional shares for Trump would be added to the 78.75 million shares he already …

Trump Media CEO says he’ll do ‘whatever it takes’ to defend DJT investors from short sellers

Trump Media CEO says he’ll do ‘whatever it takes’ to defend DJT investors from short sellers

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Devin Nunes, chief executive officer of Truth Social, speaks during the Conservative Political Action Conference (CPAC) in National Harbor, Maryland, US, on Thursday, March 2, 2023.  Al Drago | Bloomberg | Getty Images Trump Media CEO Devin Nunes on Friday said he would “do whatever it takes” to defend the company’s retail investors from possible illegal short selling of its shares. “If we have to go to the Congress or if we have to take legal action, we will do whatever it takes to defend our retail investors,” Nunes said in an interview with right-wing media outlet Newsmax. Nunes also called out President Joe Biden for mentioning Trump Media’s stock price in a speech earlier this week. “Isn’t that weird?” Nunes said. Delivering remarks in Scranton, Pennsylvania, on Tuesday, Biden took a dig at Donald Trump, his November Republican election opponent, as shares of Trump Media tanked from its more than $70 debut price. “If Trump’s stock in the Truth Social — his — his company — drops any lower, he might do better under my …

Citadel Securities blasts Trump Media CEO over DJT short sale letter

Citadel Securities blasts Trump Media CEO over DJT short sale letter

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Devin Nunes, chief executive officer of Truth Social, speaks during the Conservative Political Action Conference (CPAC) in National Harbor, Maryland, US, on Thursday, March 2, 2023.  Al Drago | Bloomberg | Getty Images Citadel Securities ripped Trump Media CEO Devin Nunes on Friday for a letter he sent to the Nasdaq that mentioned Citadel Securities and other major market companies after warning of possible illegal short selling of Trump Media shares. “Devin Nunes is the proverbial loser who tries to blame ‘naked short selling’ for his falling stock price,” said a spokesperson for Citadel Securities. Citadel Securities’ founder and non-executive chairman, Ken Griffin, is a major donor to Republican candidates — among them Nunes, a former GOP congressman. “Nunes is exactly the type of person Donald Trump would have fired on [The] Apprentice,” said the spokesperson, referring to the former Republican president’s business competition reality TV show. “If he [Nunes] worked for Citadel Securities, we would fire him, as ability and integrity are at the center of everything we do,” the spokesperson added. A spokeswoman …

Trump Media alerts Nasdaq to potential DJT stock manipulation

Trump Media alerts Nasdaq to potential DJT stock manipulation

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Jonathan Raa | Nurphoto | Getty Images Trump Media has warned the CEO of the Nasdaq Stock Market of ‘potential market manipulation’ of the company’s stock by “naked” short selling of shares. The warning came as Trump Media has offered shareholders detailed instructions on how to avoid someone loaning out their DJT shares to short sellers, who then execute trades betting that the price of the stock will fall. Trump Media disclosed the warning to Nasdaq CEO Adrena Friedman in a filing Friday morning with the Securities and Exchange Commission. DJT’s share price has rallied in recent days, but is still sharply lower than the more than $70 per share it debuted with on March 26. Former President Donald Trump owns nearly 60% of Trump Media shares. The paper value of his stake has dropped by billions of dollars since DJT began public trading last month. Trump Media CEO Devin Nunes in his letter to Friedman did not directly accuse anyone in particular of naked short selling, which is the sale of stocks without first …

Trump Media tells DJT shareholders how to block short sellers

Trump Media tells DJT shareholders how to block short sellers

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Jonathan Raa | Nurphoto | Getty Images Trump Media is making a point of telling its shareholders how to prevent their stock from being loaned to short sellers — who bet the price of the shares will drop. The short-selling-prevention tips posted Wednesday on Trump Media’s website come as its DJT stock has fallen sharply in price since it began being public trading on March 26 — and as short sellers have taken a keen interest in the owner of the Truth Social app despite relatively high fees to finance such trades. “It certainly shows concern” about short selling of Trump Media stock, said Kevin Murphy, a business professor at the University of Southern California who is an expert on executive compensation. “I haven’t seen it before,” Murphy said when asked how common it is for companies to give shareholders instructions on how to thwart short sellers. “Managers who … think the stock is undervalued aren’t going to be overly concerned about short sellers,” he said. Trump Media’s share price rose sharply on Thursday by …