Truth Social Takes a $4 Billion Dive
The startup’s value has slumped nearly $6 billion in recent months. Lockup on insider share sales could lift as soon as next week
Tweet on Trump’s media stocks taking a steep dive
Trump Media, which owns the X-lookalike social media platform Truth Social, has shed nearly $6 billion in value over the past four months.#Trump #stocks #news pic.twitter.com/uT8ar7li3p
— The_Journalbiz (@the_journalbiz) September 16, 2024
Bloomberg chart
The paper fortune that former President Donald Trump amassed by taking a nascent media startup public is shriveling, and a race to the exits that begins as soon as Sept. 19 could shrink it even more.
Meanwhile, its largest shareholders have been unable to sell because of a lockup agreement from when the firm went public through a special-purpose acquisition company merger in March.
The stock was trading at its lowest level since then as recently as Thursday, erasing $4.1 billion in paper wealth for the Republican presidential candidate, who owns roughly 60% of the company. His stake is now worth about $2.1 billion.
Trump isn’t alone in watching a paper empire collapse because of the lockup restrictions, which prevent insiders from selling until next week at the earliest. Andy Litinsky and Wes Moss, former contestants on Trump’s TV show The Apprentice who co-founded the company, and Patrick Orlando, whose fund, ARC Global Investments II LLC, sponsored the SPAC that merged with Trump Media, have seen more than $500 million in wealth wiped out..
