Trump Media shares sink to post-merger low as DJT slump continues

Shares of Trump Media fell to their lowest price since Donald Trump's social media company completed a merger nearly five months ago.

Trump Media, which owns the Republican former president's preferred social messaging platform Truth Social, ended the trading day at $22.24 per share, a drop of more than 3.5%.

The once-privately held firm merged with publicly traded Digital World Acquisition Corp. in late March, and began trading on the Nasdaq with the ticker DJT, soaring to a high of $79.38 per share. The stock price has continued to be volatile, but since mid-July has lost nearly half of its value.

Monday's closing price is the lowest for the company since Jan. 12, when it was still trading under the DWAC ticker.

Trump Media's stock slump in the past four weeks coincided with a swirl of seismic developments for Trump, who is both the majority stakeholder of Trump Media and a main draw for Truth Social users.

The share price surged on July 15, the first trading day after Trump was nearly assassinated at a campaign rally in western Pennsylvania.

Trump was formally nominated as the Republican presidential nominee two days later, bolstering the momentum he had already built up against President Joe Biden, who at the time was the presumptive Democratic nominee.

But Trump's growing lead suddenly shrunk when Biden dropped out of the election contest on July 21 and endorsed Vice President Kamala Harris as his replacement to lead their party's ticket.

The historic switch flipped betting markets' views on who will win in November. Harris is now favored over Trump.

Trump Media has said in regulatory filings that its success is at least partly tied to Trump's popularity and reputation.

Some Trump supporters seem to treat the company's stock as a way to support the former president or bet on his chances of winning a second term.

On Aug. 9, Trump Media reported a loss of more than $16 million for the fiscal quarter ending June 30, while posting just $837,000 in revenue during the same period.

The company attributed about half its loss to ongoing legal expenses related to its merger with DWAC, a so-called special purpose acquisition company, which was delayed for more than two years after it was announced.

Despite its meager revenue, the company currently has a market capitalization of nearly $4.5 billion due to its stock price.

Trump owns nearly 59% of Trump Media's outstanding shares, a stake worth more than $2.5 billion at Monday's midday trading price.

But he is barred from selling any of his stock until a six-month lockup period expires on Sept. 25. It is unclear whether Trump is planning to sell any of this stake once he has the option to do so.

Trump is bound by a licensing agreement that requires him to make "non-political" social media posts on Truth Social first.

But he is free to post political messages on any site without restriction, and he has recently exercised that ability by posting on X and TikTok, two social media giants whose audiences dwarf Truth Social's.

Trump on Aug. 12 was interviewed by Tesla CEO Elon Musk in a livestream on the social media site X, which Musk owns.

Trump has periodically posted on X, formerly known as Twitter, since the interview.