Trump Media Tumble After Ex-President Found Guilty in NYC

31 mai

Trump Media & Technology Group, (DJT) the owner of Truth Social, experienced a slump in shares after former President Donald Trump was found guilty 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 money payments to a porn actor who said the two had sex. Trump Media's stock fell about 9% in after-hours trading on Thursday as news of the verdict emerged. The stock, which trades under the ticket symbol "DJT," has been extremely volatile since its debut in late March and has been prone to ricochet from highs to lows as small-pocketed investors attempt to catch an upward momentum swing at the right time.

Trump Media (DJT) reported that it lost more than $300 million last quarter, according to its first earnings report as a publicly traded company. For the three-month period that ended March 31, the company posted a loss of $327.6 million, which it said included $311 million in non-cash expenses related to its merger with a company called Digital World Acquisition Corp.

Trump Media & Technology (DJT) fired an auditor this month that federal regulators recently charged with "massive fraud." The media company dismissed BF Borgers as its independent public accounting firm on May 3, delaying the filing of its quarterly earnings report. Trump was charged with 34 counts of falsifying business records at his company in connection with an alleged scheme to hide potentially embarrassing stories about him during his 2016 Republican presidential election campaign.

The almost 10% stock price drop amounts to a $330 million decline in the value of Trump's shares. Trump's net worth was $7.5 billion Friday morning, making him the 356th-richest person on the planet. A majority of Trump's fortune stems from his $5.6 billion stake in Trump Media, holdings that were worth $5.9 billion as of Thursday.

Trump Media (DJT) went public in March via a reverse merger with a blank-check company after two years of regulatory and legal hiccups. In its two months on the public markets, Trump Media has performed shockingly well, with its after-hours share price still about 25% higher than its blank-check predecessor's stock traded at before the merger's completion.

The stock is down from its All-time high of $80 now trading at $48.90 down by 5.5%.