Trump Media & Technology Group, the owner of struggling social media platform Truth Social, is began its long-delayed journey as a public company at Tuesday’s opening bell under the ticker symbol “DJT.”

The stock surged about 56% at the open, to $78, and trading was briefly halted for volatility. Trump Media shares have since stabilized at around $70, marking a 40% increase from Monday’s close.

Wall Street is assigning Trump Media an eye-popping valuation of around $13 billion — a price tag that experts warn is untethered to reality.

The skyrocketing share price comes despite the fact that Trump Media is burning through cash; piling up losses; and its main product, Truth Social, is losing users.

“This is a very unusual situation. The stock is pretty much divorced from fundamentals,” said Jay Ritter, a finance professor at the University of Florida’s Warrington College of Business, who has been studying initial public offerings (IPOs) for over 40 years.

  • rbesfe@lemmy.ca
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    7 months ago

    This is literally just a loophole to allow foreign governments to give Trump boatloads of cash. Instead of giving him explicit gifts, you prop up the price of his worthless company’s shares

    • Schadrach@lemmy.sdf.org
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      7 months ago

      Trump can’t cash out shares for 6 months. So now they have to keep the price inflated for 6 months.

      Could be some folks find value in social media for a group preselected for gullibility.

      • UnderpantsWeevil@lemmy.world
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        7 months ago

        Trump can’t cash out shares for 6 months. So now they have to keep the price inflated for 6 months.

        Unless they’re just unloading their shares onto Rubes. In which case, they only need other people to buy-and-hold at the inflated rate.