Shares of Trump Media & Technology Group, the owner of the social networking site Truth Socialcollapsed on Thursday after former President Donald Trump was found guilty in his hush money trial.
A New York jury found Trump guilty of falsifying business records as a part of a scheme to illegally influence the 2016 election by paying hush money to a porn star who said the 2 had sex.
When news of the decision broke, Trump Media’s share price fell about 9 percent in after-hours trading on Thursday.
The stock, which is traded under the ticker symbol “DJT”, was extremely volatile Since its debut in late March, it has joined the group of meme stocks that are likely to swing from highs to lows as deep-pocketed investors attempt to reap the benefits of upside momentum at the appropriate time.
The stock has tripled this yr, often posting double-digit percentage swings up or down in a single day. It reached a high of nearly $80 in intraday trading on March 26. By comparison, the S&P 500 is up nearly 10% year-to-date.
Earlier this month, Trump Media reported that it lost greater than $300 million last yr. quarterin response to its first earnings report as listed company.
For the three-month period ended March 31, the corporate reported a lack of $327.6 million, which it said included $311 million in non-cash expenses related to its merger with an organization called Digital World Acquisition Corp. DWAC is an example of a so-called special purpose acquisition company (SPAC), which offers young corporations a faster and easier option to list their stocks, but with far less control.
Trump Media & Technology this month fired an auditor that federal regulators recently accused of “massive fraud”. The media company fired BF Borgers as its independent accounting firm on May 3, delaying the filing of its quarterly earnings report.
Trump Media had previously worn out at the least two other auditors – one resigned in July 2023 and one other was fired by the corporate’s board in March, just as BF Borgers was being rehired.
Trump has been charged with 34 counts of falsifying business records at his company. The accusation is that he covered up potentially embarrassing stories about himself during his 2016 Republican presidential campaign.
The charge, a felony, arose from restitution to then Trump lawyer Michael Cohen after paying $130,000 in hush money to Porn star Stormy Daniels to silence her claims of an extramarital sexual encounter with Trump in 2006. Trump was accused of misrepresenting Cohen’s reimbursements as legal expenses to hide that they were tied to a hush money payment.
Trump’s defense argued that the payments to Cohen were legitimate legal services.
