Trump Media has lost almost 50% of its value since a preelection rally sent the stock soaring
Trump Media and Technology Group’s (TMTG) share price has fallen 48% since Oct. 29 when it sat at $51. The stock is now back down to $26.
Over the past few weeks, the stock has moved up and down regularly on the back of the election furor that surrounded its largest shareholder, President-elect Donald Trump. Twice, including on Election Day, trading on the stock was halted because its price was too volatile.
Prior to the election, from mid- to late-October, TMTG stock surged after betting sites and polls favored Trump to win the election. That prediction, of course, turned out to be true, sending the stock shooting up even more. The day after the election, TMTG opened 31% higher than its previous close.
After the initial pre-election excitement, however, the stock has leveled out. Trading volumes for the stock have plummeted compared to the flurry of activity that happened once it became clear Trump would, in fact, win the White House. On Election Day, 169 million shares of TMTG were bought and sold, while the day after saw 176 million shares trade hands.
Since then, trades on the stock have fallen to a fraction of that activity. By Wednesday, just a week after Trump’s victory, only 21 million shares were traded.
Much of the trading right before the election was driven by momentum traders, who saw a rising stock and rode its coattails to quick gains. In all likelihood, those traders have moved on, their interest in the stock only coinciding with Trump’s rosy odds during the election cycle.
The massive October run-up led to a torrent of trading, as those who bought low sold, while others wanted to buy into a shooting star. October had the two highest volume trading weeks since the company went public.
Despite the many investors trading the stock, which caused the dramatic swings in the share price, TMTG’s financial performance remains unchanged. Since its inception, the company has struggled to generate any meaningful revenue and operated at a loss.
TMTG’s most recent earnings report for the third quarter of 2024 showed it had lost $363 million since the start of the year. During that time, it only generated $2.6 million in top-line earnings. The disconnect between TMTG’s business outcomes and its share price have led to accusations that it is a meme stock. Now with Trump back in the White House the company’s future is somewhat uncertain.
The company’s main asset is the upstart social network Truth Social, which primarily bills itself as a conservative version of X. But TMTG does have plans to grow its business. It recently launched a streaming platform called Truth+, and in an unorthodox move, TMTG built a proprietary version of its backend tech infrastructure to reduce its reliance on third-party tech vendors. TMTG CEO Devin Nunes pitched the completion of that project as the beginning of the company’s growth. “These actions are not the end of our expansion but merely the beginning,” Nunes said in an earnings release.
