Trump Media stock hits new low after DJT lockup lifts

Shares of Trump Media sank Monday to their lowest price in more than a year, days after majority owner Donald Trump and other company insiders got the green light to start selling their stakes in the Truth Social operator.

The stock, which appears as DJT on the Nasdaq, dropped more than 6% in midday trading, putting the company on track for its sixth straight day of declines.

Trump Media’s share price has fallen more than 80% since the company surged in its public trading debut in late March. The stock as of Monday was at its lowest intraday level since early July 2023.

The company’s market capitalization, which crossed $10 billion in March, has shrunk to about $2.5 billion. Trump owns nearly 57% of the company’s outstanding shares, a stake worth nearly $1.5 billion as of Monday around noon.

Trump and other company insiders were bound by lockup agreements that barred them from selling their shares in the initial months after Trump Media went public.

Those restrictions expired at the closing bell Thursday.

Trading volume accelerated significantly as the lockup lifted. More than 14 million shares changed hands on Thursday and nearly 22 million were exchanged Friday, far exceeding the 30-day average volume of about 8.3 million shares.

Within the first 90 minutes of trading Monday, traders swapped about seven million shares.

Trump, a main draw for Truth Social users and many retail investors in the company, said earlier in September that he will not sell his stake. The stock price briefly shot up after his remarks.

Other early investors have made no such promises. They include ARC Global, a sponsor of the blank-check firm that took Trump Media public, and United Atlantic Ventures, an entity controlled by two former contestants on Trump’s reality show “The Apprentice.”

ARC and UAV owned nearly 11% of outstanding DJT shares, Trump Media said in a regulatory filing in early September. But ARC’s stake may have grown after a Delaware judge ruled on Sept. 16 that Trump Media breached an agreement with the sponsor and owes it more stock.

This is developing news. Please check back for updates.