Key Takeaways
- Shares of Truth Social’s parent company, majority owned by former President Donald Trump, extended their retreat Friday.
- Investors are digesting the possibility that Trump or other investors who were previously prohibited from selling shares could soon begin doing so.
- Trump last week said, “I’m not going to sell my shares.”
The rough week for shares of Truth Social’s parent company continued Friday.
Shares of Trump Media & Technology (DJT), the company majority-owned by former President Donald Trump, were recently down more than 3%, trading around $14.25 per share after finishing last week near $18.
Lock-Up Agreements Expired
The stock is falling as investors digest the possibility that Trump or other company insiders and investors could begin selling shares following the expiration of lock-up agreements that prohibited them from doing so. Trump in an interview last week said, “I’m not going to sell my shares.”
Selling by major shareholders would likely exert further downward pressure on a stock that earlier this year changed hands at around $70, soaring shortly after Truth Social’s then-parent merged with a blank-check company.
The expiration of the lock-up agreements could also “facilitate increased short selling in the stock,” according to a Thursday note from S3 Partners.
Trump Media was as of Thursday the worst-performing stock in the Russell 1000 since Aug. 5, according to Bespoke Investment Group. The index, which represents the largest 1,000 U.S. companies by market capitalization, has broadly risen during that time.