Trump Media shares climb after Trump says he won’t sell
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Donald Trump owns nearly 115 million shares and has about a 53 per cent stake in Trump Media.
PHOTO: REUTERS
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NEW YORK/WASHINGTON - Shares of Trump Media and Technology Group jumped on Nov 8 after US President-elect Donald Trump said he had no intention of selling his shares in the company, which owns his Truth Social media platform.
In a post on Truth Social, Trump rejected what he described as rumours that he was planning to sell shares a day after the stock slumped.
“There are fake, untrue, and probably illegal rumours and/or statements made by, perhaps, market manipulators or short sellers, that I am interested in selling shares of Truth,” Trump wrote.
“THOSE RUMOURS OR STATEMENTS ARE FALSE. I HAVE NO INTENTION OF SELLING!” Trump added.
Shares of the company were up about 12 per cent at US$31.04 by midday on Nov 8 and hit a high for the session of US$32.
The stock was briefly halted for volatility after Trump’s comments.
On Nov 7, shares of the company slumped as speculative bets on Trump winning a second four-year term lost steam a day after his victory over Democrat Kamala Harris. The stock rose 5.9 per cent on Nov 6, following election day on Nov 5.
While Trump and Vice-President Harris were nearly tied in most opinion polls leading up to the election, online betting markets favoured the former president more, prompting investors to pile into securities that they viewed as more likely to benefit or come under pressure under his leadership.
That resulted in a roughly a 200 per cent surge in Trump Media stock in the six weeks before the election.
Trump had already said in September that he was not selling his shares in the company and would not leave the social medial platform he founded.
Trump owns nearly 115 million shares and has about a 53 per cent stake in Trump Media. At the stock’s price on Nov 8, his piece of the company was worth more than US$4 billion (S$5.3 billion), while its total market capitalisation was at about US$6.7 billion.
A report on Nov 6 by financial analytics firm S3 Partners showed that investors betting against Trump Media have lost US$420 million since the stock began tracking the odds of Trump winning the election. REUTERS
