Shares of Trump Media turned higher on Tuesday morning as the company behind Truth Social worked to recover from a significant decline. This upward movement coincided with company insiders, including majority-owner Donald Trump, receiving clearance to start selling their stock.
DJT shares rose by as much as 7% in heavy trading shortly after the opening bell and were up about 2% as of 11 a.m. ET. This increase followed six consecutive days of losses, which had caused Trump Media stock to fall by more than 32%.
This recent downturn is part of a longer downward trend for the company, which went public in late March after merging with a special purpose acquisition company (SPAC). Since reaching an intraday peak of $79.38 per share during its Nasdaq debut, Trump Media stock has lost over 84% of its value.
On Monday, the stock dropped to its lowest point since prior to October 2021, when news of the planned merger with the SPAC, Digital World Acquisition Corp., was first publicly disclosed.
Donald Trump currently owns nearly 57% of the company’s outstanding shares. Despite a significant drop in his stake’s value, it was still worth nearly $1.5 billion on Tuesday morning.
Trump, the Republican presidential nominee, along with other early investors, had been restricted from selling their shares due to lockup agreements that expired on Thursday. The expiration of these agreements sparked speculation about whether early investors would sell their stakes in the company, whose main product, Truth Social, has produced limited revenue in recent quarters.
While Trump has stated he will not sell his stake, Trump Media indicated that other early investors planned to cash out as soon as the lockup period ended. As of Tuesday morning, it was unclear if any formerly restricted entities had begun selling their shares. However, such sales would generally require disclosure to the Securities and Exchange Commission.
This is a developing story, and updates are expected.
