Investors had scary visions of widespread insider sell-offs.
Confidence wasn’t high with Trump Media & Technology (DJT -10.33%) shares as the trading week kicked off on Monday. The still-young stock hit a crucial milestone, and investors took the opportunity to bail out of it. At the end of the day the shares had fallen by over 10% in price, teasing a new all-time low close. Compounding this, the drop occurred on a positive trading session for more than a few other stocks that saw the S&P 500 index rise by 0.3%.
Down on the lock-up expiration
The main impetus behind this was last Thursday’s expiration of the Trump Media stock lock-up period, i.e. the window of time in which insiders are barred from selling their shares. Those folks were free to do so starting Friday.
The company’s namesake Donald Trump recently insisted that he has no intention of unloading any of his stock, saying of the social media operator that “I love it. I use it as a method of getting out my word.” The former president isn’t considered trustworthy by many, though, and worries are growing that other insiders might cash out of their stakes.
Much of this is because Trump Media has stumbled at times, particularly after President Joe Biden abandoned his re-election effort in favor of Kamala Harris. The current Vice President has poll numbers superior to Biden’s and is considered by many to be a stronger candidate for the presidency than Trump.
A niche player in a monster market
Trump Media is a social media platform aimed at users who lean rightward in their politics and feel that other sites do not adequately reflect their interests.
It remains very much a niche company in that social media world, however, and from an investor standpoint its financials are not encouraging. In its most recently reported quarter, revenue amounted to $837,000, a fraction of the take earned by the more prominent social media companies. In contrast to many of those businesses, Trump Media continued to be loss-making, booking a shortfall of over $16 million for the period.
Eric Volkman has no position in any of the stocks mentioned. The Motley Fool has no position in any of the stocks mentioned. The Motley Fool has a disclosure policy.
