• logicbomb@lemmy.world
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    2 months ago

    Trump, a main draw for Truth Social users and many retail investors in the company, said earlier in September that he will not sell his stake. The stock price briefly shot up after his remarks.

    Other early investors have made no such promises. They include ARC Global, a sponsor of the blank-check firm that took Trump Media public, and United Atlantic Ventures, an entity controlled by two former contestants on Trump’s reality show “The Apprentice.”

    I believe it’s not only that these investors made no promises not to sell, but that several of them specifically expressed that they would be selling as soon as they were legally allowed to do so.

    It’s hard to accurately value Truth Social. But I think if Trump were to leave the platform, its value would go to zero, and that makes it very risky. I just saw a price of 12.74. I wouldn’t be surprised if it’s still quite overvalued, and so it makes sense for those investors to try to sell at this price.

    • MagicShel@programming.dev
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      2 months ago

      It’s losing money hand over fist, has a tiny user base and little name recognition. They have no assets worth anything.

      The fundamentals are clear: the stock is completely worthless except as a wild gamble. People would be better off investing in penny-stocks.

      • grue@lemmy.world
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        2 months ago

        The fundamentals are clear: the stock is completely worthless except as a wild gamble.

        And as influence peddling/money laundering for Trump.

    • corsicanguppy@lemmy.ca
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      2 months ago

      And we know Mr Trump hasn’t dumped his stock because … he said so?

      Are we back to believing anything this lying felon says?

      • sploosh@lemmy.world
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        2 months ago

        If he sells now, the value drops immediately to zero and a big thing with Trump’s name all over goes down in flames just before the election. That doesn’t help him at the polls.

        We can’t trust him to do what he says, but we can trust him to look out for himself.

        • niucllos@lemm.ee
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          2 months ago

          We can trust him to look out for himself as he sees it, not necessarily rationally. And also not to plan long-term if he needs a cash infusion now. Will be interesting (I guess) to see which pressure wins out

      • ganksy@lemmy.world
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        2 months ago

        Anyone with over a 10% stake in a company has to give notice two days before any transactions.

      • vovo@lemmy.dbzer0.com
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        2 months ago

        Trump’s statements certainly weren’t enforceable under contract law, said Robert Bartlett III, a professor of law and business at Stanford Law School. The former president’s press conference remarks weren’t accompanied by the formalities that made the lockup agreement binding.

        But securities law might have something to say if Trump didn’t mean it when he said he had “no intention of selling.” That would make it a misstatement, under securities fraud laws, said Bartlett. And given how much Trump Media stock moved after the Sept. 14 press conference, a plaintiff could argue that the misstatement was “material.”

        A sale by Trump on Friday would be an easy case, said Adam Pritchard, a University of Michigan law professor who’s written extensively on securities regulation.

        ‘If he sold today, that would be fraud,” said Pritchard on Friday. “The chance of lawsuit would be exceedingly high and even the SEC might decide it was worth a lawsuit.”

        But Trump didn’t say he intended to hold his stock forever. If Trump starts selling stock some weeks from now, it becomes harder to argue that his statement was false, said Pritchard.

        https://www.marketwatch.com/articles/trump-djt-stock-sell-lockup-d4b275bf?mod=mw_quote_news

        • CileTheSane@lemmy.ca
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          2 months ago

          ‘If he sold today, that would be fraud,” said Pritchard on Friday. “The chance of lawsuit would be exceedingly high and even the SEC might decide it was worth a lawsuit.”

          Add it to the pile. Maybe we’ll get around to punishing him for one of these things in the next decade.

  • solsangraal@lemmy.zip
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    2 months ago

    if you ever thought anything with trump involved was a good investment decision, then you deserve to lose on it

    • ripcord@lemmy.world
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      2 months ago

      At the moment, every single person who has paid money for a share so far is in the negative. Which is nice.

      Needs to go way way further so that it’s worthless to the people who created it out of thin air/got money laundering payments too.

      • Buffalox@lemmy.world
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        2 months ago

        every single person who has paid money for a share <and is still holding> so far is in the negative.

        Clearly the people that sold above $60 made money on all the suckers that were stupid enough to buy.

  • SelfProgrammed@lemmy.world
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    2 months ago

    Trump and other company insiders were bound by lockup agreements that barred them from selling their shares in the initial months after Trump Media went public.

    Those restrictions expired at the closing bell Thursday.

    I bet he won’t sell on Friday, which will lead to people having faith that Trump will stand by his word for once, the stock will go up a little, Monday he sells it all.

    • nilloc@discuss.tchncs.de
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      2 months ago

      He’ll get screwed by the SEC if he sells after saying he won’t. He’s gotta wait at least a few weeks now.

      His fellow shareholders don’t need to though, and I’m gonna laugh soooo hard if Trump ends up being the one left holding the bag.

      • CileTheSane@lemmy.ca
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        2 months ago

        He’ll get screwed by the SEC if he sells after saying he won’t.

        Oh, this is the thing he’ll actually face consequences for?

        • nilloc@discuss.tchncs.de
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          2 months ago

          I think you’re right, since he had such a large stake.

          Pretty sure you can’t publicly state intent to not sell, which pumps the price, then sell. Which is what he’d be doing and run afoul of laws against pump and dumping (stock price manipulation).

          Minority share holders have a right for protection against things like unreasonable compensation or personal benefits of bigger share holders. They can take him to court if he infringes their rights.

  • EndOfLine@lemmy.world
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    2 months ago

    Trading volume accelerated significantly as the lockup lifted. More than 14 million shares changed hands on Thursday and nearly 22 million were exchanged Friday, far exceeding the 30-day average volume of about 8.3 million shares.

  • TehWorld@lemmy.world
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    2 months ago

    Actually closed higher than open today (9-24) which is the first time in a LONG time.

    It’s CLEARLY a way for foreign governments and billionaire supporters to funnel $$$ to trump without the pesky election laws getting in the way.