A criminal conviction isn’t typically a market-moving event. But the historic conviction of former President Donald Trump is causing extreme turbulence for Truth Social owner Trump Media & Technology Group.
Trump Media – a notoriously volatile stock since debuting in late March – has swung between steep losses and sharp gains since a Manhattan jury found the former president guilty on Thursday.
The Truth Social owner initially plummeted as much as 15% Thursday evening as the world reacted to the conviction. The stock battled back and opened Friday 4% higher before those gains fizzled.
In recent trading, Trump Media is down about 5%.
“Trump is the key figure here, so it’s no surprise that a conviction results in extra volatility as traders reassess what that means for the company,” Matthew Kennedy, senior IPO market strategist at Renaissance Capital, told CNN in an email on Friday.
The former president isn’t just the chairman of Trump Media. He’s the most popular user on Truth Social and the leading shareholder. Trump Media’s ticker symbol is even “DJT.”
“This stock has always represented a bet on Trump winning the 2024 election (and using Truth Social as his primary platform),” Kennedy said.
At current levels, Trump’s dominant stake of 114.75 million shares is valued at about $6 billion on paper.
That’s despite the fact that Truth Social remains a tiny player in the social media space and the company generates very little revenue.
Trump Media posted revenue of just $770,500 during the first quarter, the second-straight quarter of sub-$1 million revenue.
The company lost $328 million in the first quarter, driven mostly by one-time losses linked to the controversial merger that brought the company public.
