Trump Media shares fall to new low – just as Trump can sell his shares

Shares of former President Donald Trump's media startup fell more than 10 percent on Monday, reaching their lowest level since the company went public six months ago.

Trump Media & Technology Group stock, which trades under the ticker symbol DJT, closed 10.3 percent lower on Monday at $12.15 per share, marking the sixth straight day of declines. The stock has fallen 17 percent since Thursday, according to Reuters.

“More gains to come,” tweeted former Rep. Adam Kinzinger, a frequent Trump critic, over a photo of the stock price at the close of trading on Monday.

The company has lost more than 80 percent of its value since an initial surge in March, when it began trading following a SPAC deal with Digital World Acquisition Corp. Trump Media's stock, which was worth a whopping $9.5 billion at its peak, has now plummeted to a market cap of around $2.4 billion, according to CNBC.

On Thursday, in the midst of the share price decline, the lock-up period for Trump Media ended, allowing Trump and other major investors to sell their shares or borrow against them. The former president is the majority shareholder of Trump Media and, according to documents from the US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), owns almost 60 percent of the company, or around 115 million shares.

Trump has repeatedly assured that he has “absolutely no intention” of selling his shares, which were worth about $1.4 billion on Monday.

“A lot of people think the reason the stock is down is because a lot of people think I'm selling, and when I sell, it's not going to be the same,” Trump said at a press conference earlier this month, according to CBS News. “But I have absolutely no intention of selling.”

On Friday, the first day of trading after the blackout period, more than 22 million shares changed hands, according to CNBC, representing a rapid increase in activity compared to the 14 million shares traded on Thursday.

DJT stock, largely viewed as a joke or “meme” stock, has been extremely volatile since its debut. Although it briefly rose after the first assassination attempt on Trump in July, it has largely trended lower.

The company has struggled with similar financial problems, reporting in August a net loss of more than $16 million for the quarter ended June 30. Quarterly revenue was just $836,900, a 30 percent decline from the same period last year.

Trump Media owns Truth Social, the MAGA social media platform that the company calls a “safe haven for free speech” but appears to function primarily as a clearinghouse for all of Trump's thoughts and opinions. It's unclear how many other users populate the site or are actually active there.