Well, that didn't take long. Investors already lost $5.3 billion on shares of Trump Media & Technology Group — with Donald Trump himself eating most of the losses.
Shares of the money-losing holding company plummeted 59% from their high notched on March 27, erasing $5.3 billion in wealth, says an Investor's Business Daily analysis of data from S&P Global Market Intelligence and MarketSurge. The S&P 500 in that time is only down 2.4%. Just Monday, shares of Trump Media & Technology plunged more than 10%.
And it's not just a fall from the insane highs the new stock hit in its brief rally following its formation. Trump Media & Technology Group shares are also down 46% from March 25, the day before the shares came into being following a special purpose acquisition company deal.
The battleground stock is sparking a brutal faceoff of bulls and people betting the stock will fall by shorting it, says Interactive Brokers Chief Strategist Steve Sosnick. "Passions are high on both sides of the trade, with fervent admirers bidding up the shares to levels that attract sellers who believe the valuation is outlandish," he said.
Who's Losing The Most Money?
No major institutional investors own Trump Media & Technology stock. So Trump himself is taking most of the hit.
Trump owns 58.1% of the company, making him the largest shareholder by far. He's already lost $3.1 billion from the position from the highs. And he's down $1.8 billion from the day the SPAC deal was finalized.
Eric Swider, the former interim CEO, is the second-largest shareholder. But he only holds 163,263 shares or just 0.1% of the shares outstanding. But that's enough to be down $6.4 million from the stock's high and $3.8 million from the day of the merger.
Other tiny owners include Geode Capital Management and St. Germain Investment Management, both with well below 0.1% of the shares.
What's Crushing The Trump Stock?
A number of factors are at play. The company losing millions of dollars doesn't help.
The company reported a loss of $21.9 million in 2023 in a regulatory filing released this month. And the company's auditors aren't relieving fears, either.
"The Company lacks the financial resources it needs to sustain operations for a reasonable period of time, which is considered to be one year from the date of the issuance of the financial statements," the auditor said. "As a result, these factors raise substantial doubt about the Company's ability to continue as a going concern. The financial statements do not include any adjustments that might result from the outcome of these uncertainties."
Additionally, short sellers are piling in to bet on a fall. But since so many shares are held by insiders, they're not easily borrowed and shorted, Sosnick said. That's making shorting difficult. "Political considerations aside, any fast-moving, highly valued stock with minimal revenues and profits relative to its market capitalization will attract attention from short sellers," he said. "Shorting is then very expensive."
How costly? With DJT stock around $50, borrowers are paying about $1.10 per day to maintain short the stock. In other words, "stock would need to fall more than $5 just to cover the costs."
So far, that doesn't seem to be a problem.
Biggest Losers From Trump Media & Technology Stock
| Holder | Lost value from merger | Lost from high |
|---|---|---|
| Trump, Donald J. | -$1,812,431,250 | -$3,093,693,750 |
| Swider, Eric S. | -3,757,498 | -6,413,787 |
| Geode Capital Management | -655,928 | -1,119,623 |
| St. Germain Investment Management | -4,649 | -7,936 |
