Trump Media and Technology Group, parent of the Truth Social platform, fell sharply on Thursday, reaching a new low as markets anticipated sell-offs by early investors following the expiration of a 60-day lockup period. File Photo by Will Oliver/EPA-EFE
Sept. 19 (UPI) -- Shares of Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump's majority-owned media company slumped an additional 4% Thursday as a six-month lockup period was set to expire.
Trump Media & Technology Group plunged to a new low of $14.43 per share shortly after trading opened on the Nasdaq exchange Thursday, down from Wednesday's close of $15.62. By mid-day, the price had recovered somewhat to $15.09.
Trump Media, which trades under the ticker symbol DTJ, is the parent company of the GOP nominee's Truth Social social media platform.
Thursday's drop-off continued a six-day slide that has seen Trump Media shares fall more than 10%, wiping out billions in value as retail investors nervously eyed the expiration of the lockup period, under which early investors, including the former president himself, were barred from selling shares following a merger with publicly traded shell company.
Trump personally owns nearly 57% of its outstanding shares worth an estimated $1.7 billion by Thursday's pricing. The prospect of him and other early investors potentially depressing the share price by bailing on their stakes has weighed heavily on the stock, despite receiving a temporary boost last week when Trump said he had no intention of selling.
"No, I'm not selling," Trump told reporters last week in California. "People think the reason it's down is that a lot of people think I'm going to sell. I can understand that, but I have absolutely no intention of selling."
Those remarks sent DJT's share price soaring to over $20 on Friday, but the gains were promptly given back.
Many market observers consider Trump Media a "meme stock," whose price rises and falls not due to financial fundamentals but rather by popular sentiment about the former president's election chances. Its share price reached dizzying heights following its debut in late March at more than $60, and soared again in mid-July following an assassination attempt against Trump, reaching $46.
But since then DTJ's share price has been generally been on a steep and steady decline.