Trump Media shares close down more than 14%, company says Truth Social to launch TV streaming
Trump Media shares have plunged in the two days that Donald Trump has been in a New York court for jury selection in his criminal hush money trial.
Jonathan Raa | Nurphoto | Getty Images
The price of Trump Media shares closed trading more than 14% lower Tuesday, hours after after the company announced its Truth Social platform is moving to launch a live TV streaming platform.
The sharp fall of DJT shares came after they ended trading Monday on the Nasdaq down by more than 18%.
DJT closed at $22.84 per share, 14.17% lower than the opening price.
The stock's price has dropped by a whopping 67.7% since Trump Media began trading as a public company on March 26, erasing more than $5 billion in market capitalization.
Trump Media's majority shareholder is former President Donald Trump, who holds nearly 60% of its stock.
Trump was in court in New York on Tuesday for his criminal hush money trial, where the first six jurors were picked.
Earlier Tuesday, Trump Media in a press release said it "has finished the research and development phase of its new live TV streaming platform and will begin scaling up its own content delivery network."
The company said it will roll out streaming content in three phases, the first of which will introduce Truth Social's content delivery network for streaming live TV to the app for Android, iOS and web.
Phase two will release stand-alone Truth Social streaming apps for phones, tablets and other devices, while phase three will release such apps for home television, Trump Media said.
"The streaming content is expected to focus on live TV including news networks, religious channels, family-friendly content including films and documentaries; and other content that has been cancelled, is at risk of cancellation, or is being suppressed on other platforms and services," Trump Media said in its release.
CEO Devin Nunes in a prepared statement said, "We're excited to move forward with the next big phase for Truth Social."
"With our streaming content, we aim to provide a permanent home for high-quality news and entertainment that face discrimination by other channels and content delivery service," Nunes said. "There is a lot of great content that simply can't find an audience for unjust reasons, and we want to let these creators know they'll soon have a guaranteed platform where they won't be cancelled."
Trump Media, which had been privately held, merged on March 15 with a so-called special purpose acquisition company, or SPAC, which was created to take such a firm public.