Trump Media & Technology Group, the owner of struggling social media platform Truth Social, is began its long-delayed journey as a public company at Tuesday’s opening bell under the ticker symbol “DJT.”

The stock surged about 56% at the open, to $78, and trading was briefly halted for volatility. Trump Media shares have since stabilized at around $70, marking a 40% increase from Monday’s close.

Wall Street is assigning Trump Media an eye-popping valuation of around $13 billion — a price tag that experts warn is untethered to reality.

The skyrocketing share price comes despite the fact that Trump Media is burning through cash; piling up losses; and its main product, Truth Social, is losing users.

“This is a very unusual situation. The stock is pretty much divorced from fundamentals,” said Jay Ritter, a finance professor at the University of Florida’s Warrington College of Business, who has been studying initial public offerings (IPOs) for over 40 years.

  • Veedem@lemmy.world
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    8 months ago

    This is a roundabout way for billionaires to donate to Trump without him having to necessarily disclose everything.

    • girlfreddy@lemmy.caOP
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      8 months ago

      That’s it in a nutshell. The rich want him because he’s malleable and will obey their every command.

              • John_McMurray@lemmy.world
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                8 months ago

                You know it’s strange, I’d almost be tempted to say Trump has been the best republican president since I’ve been alive. Certainly less catastrophic effects on foreign nations. (Note, I’m not American, and this is talking about actual track record, not his annoying fucking voice)

            • MonkeMischief@lemmy.today
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              8 months ago

              He did however, set the precedent that workers in some jobs simply wouldn’t be allowed to strike because they’re “too important”, when he forcibly broke an air traffic controller strike.

              Unions and by extension workers, started to erode pretty quickly after that, in such a short time that they became relatively unheard of until recently.

              He also un-funded state run mental hospitals. What to do with all those folks who mentally struggled to function in society? “Dunno! If they can’t make money. Put em’ on the street I guess!” was the Reagan solution. The following step is to “Endlessly ostracize and complain about the unhoused.”

              He pushed the idea of the “wellfare queen”, a charicatured, often minority, character, who had a bunch of kids and used government money to do drugs all day instead of work. This nonsense was used quite effectively to discourage and shame the use of social safety nets, as his administration dismantled them altogether.

              There’s innumerable social ills and societal failings that can be traced back to some policy Reagan and his ilk pushed. Very similar to Thatcher across the pond. He’s largely to thank for corporations having more rights than people, and “Maybe you should just individually work harder” being the answer to everyone who is constantly whipped about by “market forces.”

              Thanks to people like him and Thatcher, people STILL believe that corporations making unlimited riches will somehow lead to higher wages and more days off, instead of going to a hoard in some offshore account, driving wages down, and normalizing mass-layoffs.

              That guy labored endlessly to destroy the so-called “American dream.” But hey, he didn’t invade Iraq!

    • fine_sandy_bottom@discuss.tchncs.de
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      8 months ago

      No, it’s not.

      To do that they could’ve just paid him $x to “advertise” on truth social.

      Buying shares this way nets him nothing. He can’t do anything with these shares, by the time he can they will be worthless.