Shares of Trump Media & Technology Group fell about 5% in choppy trading today, after a jury found dominant shareholder and former U.S. president Donald Trump guilty of falsifying documents to cover up a hush money payment to a porn star.
The stock opened higher before falling again, and was among the top trends on Reddit’s discussion forum WallStreetBets, indicating strong interest from individual traders, Reuters reported. A majority of the firm’s 621,000 shareholders are retail investors, as of April 29, the company has said.
“It’s a meme stock that has no fundamentals. The volatility today is not surprising,” said Art Hogan, chief market strategist at B. Riley Wealth.
The Republican presidential candidate for this year’s election owns a majority stake in TMTG, the parent of his social media platform, Truth Social. The company also provides a way for Trump supporters to bet on his resurgence as a political figure.
Trump Media went public on the Nasdaq in March following a merger with Digital World Acquisition.
Trump was found guilty yesterday by a New York jury on 34 felony counts related to an election-interference scheme, covering up hush-money payments in 2016 to a porn actress and a Playboy model who claim they had affairs with the real estate mogul before he ascended to the presidency. Trump’s appeal is all but inevitable. Read more.
