Trump's media company faces sharp stock decline amid investor sell-off

Donald Trump's media company experienced another round of heavy selling on Wednesday, erasing gains it had made earlier in the year, which coincided with the former president's rising political prospects.

Shares dropped by over 6%, falling to below $17, a value lower than they were at the start of 2024.

The stock price, which peaked in April during Trump's criminal trial, has plummeted by more than 70% from its high point.

The company, which operates the social media platform Truth Social, still holds a market value exceeding $3.3 billion—a significant figure for a small firm with declining revenue and increasing losses.

Trump's victory in the January Republican primary had initially driven interest in Trump Media earlier in the year.

Investors rushed to buy shares of Digital World Acquisition Corp., a publicly-traded shell company designed to acquire Trump Media, which was viewed as a stand-in for the firm on Wall Street.

Demand surged further in March when the merger was formally finalized.

Since then, the stock price has fluctuated wildly.

Its latest peak occurred in July, following an assassination attempt on Trump and before President Joe Biden exited the race, but the price has steadily declined in recent weeks.

The decline comes as the company nears a key date when Trump and other early investors will be able to sell their shares.

Currently, Trump's stake is valued at around $2 billion, a sharp drop from over $6 billion just months ago.

Analysts had cautioned investors to anticipate large price swings, describing it as a "meme stock," driven more by public sentiment than by its financial fundamentals.