Trump Media Shares Up More Than 12% Day Before Election

Shares of the former president Donald TrumpSocial media shares in Russia rose on Monday ahead of the presidential election.

Shares of Trump Media & Technology Group (TMTG), the parent company of Truth Social, rose 12.4 percent on Monday after opening the day with a 6.5 percent loss to close at $34.34.

TMTG shares also fell 13.53 percent to $30.56 per share on Friday. At press time on Monday, shares were priced at $34.09.

How Trump Media works

TMTG experienced initial gains following its Wall Street debut, closing at a high of $66.22 on March 27, but fell to $12.15 by the close on September 23.

How Newsweek previously reportedThe company’s shares have soared more than 200 percent over the past month, coinciding with recent polls that show Tuesday’s presidential election between Trump. Republican Party candidate and vice president Kamala Harris, Democratic Partycandidate will be very close.

The stock hit a high of $51.51 on Oct. 29, its highest level since May. However, after rising, shares of TMTG, which trades under the symbol DJT, fell more than 20 percent on Oct. 30, marking the company’s worst trading day since its initial public offering in March.

The company’s shares fell 22.29 percent that day to close at $40.03 per share.

What the experts say

Newsweek spoke with Michael O’Rourke, chief market strategist at JonesTrading, about stocks and their performance over the past few weeks.

“Trump Media & Technology Group Corp is a speculative stock that individual investors are using to express their views on the outcome of the election,” O’Rourke said. “His actions are usually driven by opinion polls or movements in prediction markets.”

Matthew Tuttle, CEO of Tuttle Capital Management, agreed that the stock could be seen as a reflection of investor confidence in Trump’s chances, saying that Newsweek: “There are some things going on with stocks, but the bottom line will reflect investors’ belief in whether Trump wins or not.”

However, O’Rourke stressed that stock movements cannot reflect Trump’s real chances of re-election.

“Because of its high volatility, speculative nature and lack of institutional accountability, I do not view it as a meaningful indicator of election likelihood,” he said. “It’s a thermometer that measures temperature at a specific point in time.”

Tuesday’s vote will be critical to the stock’s continued success. If Trump is re-elected, Trump Media’s flagship offering, Truth Social, could serve as an important communications platform for the president as X (then known as Twitter) was in his first term as president and became an invaluable resource for the media and the general public to follow the commander in chief.

“If he loses, the result will be zero,” Tuttle said. Newsweek. “If he wins and the stock is still at this level when victory is announced (around 30), then I think it will rise in the short term.”

Truth Social Problems

TMTG, founded by Trump after he was removed from major social media platforms following the January 2021 U.S. Capitol riot, is losing money and struggling to grow revenue. TMTG reported a loss of more than $16 million for the quarter ended June on revenue of just $837,000, according to regulatory filings.

The AP reported in early October that recent regulatory filings showed that The chief operating officer of parent company Truth Social has resigned. and that the company is required to transfer approximately 800,000 shares to the investor by court order.

Chief Operating Officer Andrew Northwall has resigned from Trump Media & Technology Group Corp., according to the Securities and Exchange Commission. last month. The statement noted that the company plans to “transfer his responsibilities internally,” but did not provide any further details about his departure.

Despite these problems, investor enthusiasm has allowed the company to be valued above other major players, including Caesars Entertainment and Hasbro.

Update 11/4/24 3:19 pm ET: This story has been updated to include additional information.

Update 11/4/24 3:27 PM ET: This story has been updated to include additional information.

Update 11/4/24 5:04 pm ET: This story has been updated to include additional information.