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.
Let’s invest in the company most tied to the health of a single man. And let that man be high in years and eat McDonald’s like it was going out of style. That won’t ever backfire.
The minute he dies, all users start going elsewhere.
More importantly, it is tied to the mental health of a single man, and that has already gone out of the window long ago.
That’s a feature, not a bug.
What users? Truth social has zero business plan.
And it won’t be a second too soon