NEW DELHI: Shares of Trump Media & Technology Group, which owns the social networking site Truth Social, are rising shortly after the opening bell on Friday, following former US president Donald Trump’s conviction 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 claimed they had sex.
On Thursday, shares fell 9 percent in after-hours trading as the news of the verdict emerged, but they are up nearly 3 percent in early morning trading on Friday.
Trading under the ticker symbol “DJT,” the stock has been highly volatile since its debut in late March. It has joined the group of meme stocks that frequently fluctuate as small-pocketed investors try to capitalize on upward momentum swings.
The stock has tripled this year, often making double-digit percentage moves in a single day. It peaked at nearly USD 80 in intraday trading on March 26.
Before going public, Trump Media warned investors in a US Securities & Exchange Commission filing about the potential risks posed by the former president’s legal issues. The filing stated, “President Donald J. Trump is the subject of numerous legal proceedings, the scope and scale of which are unprecedented for a former President of the United States and current candidate for that office. An adverse outcome in one or more of the ongoing legal proceedings in which President Donald J. Trump is involved could negatively impact TMTG and its Truth Social platform.”
Earlier this month, Trump Media reported a loss of over USD 300 million last quarter in its first earnings report as a publicly traded company. For the three-month period ending March 31, the company posted a loss of USD 327.6 million, including USD 311 million in non-cash expenses related to its merger with Digital World Acquisition Corp., a special purpose acquisition company (SPAC).
Trump faces 34 counts of falsifying business records related to reimbursements paid to his former lawyer Michael Cohen, who made a USD 130,000 hush money payment to porn actor Stormy Daniels to silence her claims of an extramarital encounter with Trump in 2006. Trump’s defense argued that the payments to Cohen were for legitimate legal services.
(With inputs from agencies)
On Thursday, shares fell 9 percent in after-hours trading as the news of the verdict emerged, but they are up nearly 3 percent in early morning trading on Friday.
Trading under the ticker symbol “DJT,” the stock has been highly volatile since its debut in late March. It has joined the group of meme stocks that frequently fluctuate as small-pocketed investors try to capitalize on upward momentum swings.
The stock has tripled this year, often making double-digit percentage moves in a single day. It peaked at nearly USD 80 in intraday trading on March 26.
Before going public, Trump Media warned investors in a US Securities & Exchange Commission filing about the potential risks posed by the former president’s legal issues. The filing stated, “President Donald J. Trump is the subject of numerous legal proceedings, the scope and scale of which are unprecedented for a former President of the United States and current candidate for that office. An adverse outcome in one or more of the ongoing legal proceedings in which President Donald J. Trump is involved could negatively impact TMTG and its Truth Social platform.”
Earlier this month, Trump Media reported a loss of over USD 300 million last quarter in its first earnings report as a publicly traded company. For the three-month period ending March 31, the company posted a loss of USD 327.6 million, including USD 311 million in non-cash expenses related to its merger with Digital World Acquisition Corp., a special purpose acquisition company (SPAC).
Trump faces 34 counts of falsifying business records related to reimbursements paid to his former lawyer Michael Cohen, who made a USD 130,000 hush money payment to porn actor Stormy Daniels to silence her claims of an extramarital encounter with Trump in 2006. Trump’s defense argued that the payments to Cohen were for legitimate legal services.
(With inputs from agencies)