The Trump Media & Technology Group (DJT) stock saw a 2% increase on Tuesday, following a 10% increase on Monday due to Elon Musk’s unexpected attendance at Donald Trump’s rally in Butler, Pennsylvania, over the weekend. It was the same area where the former president survived an assassination attempt in July.
DJT Stock Jumps 2% as Elon Musk Backs Donald Trump for President
The tech billionaire Musk, who owns the social media site X (previously Twitter), is the CEO of SpaceX and Tesla (TSLA), and he has been vocal about his support for Trump ahead of next month’s election. Even still, Trump has stated that he would explore offering Musk a cabinet post, even though the mogul probably wouldn’t be able to comply “with all the things he’s got going on.”
Musk told the crowd at the rally on Saturday that Trump is the only contender who can “preserve democracy in America,” and that if Trump loses, this will be “the last election.”
The former president and Democratic contender Kamala Harris are still locked in a tie for the presidency. Harris recently started making a lot of appearances in the media to try and maintain her recent surge in the polls.
Harris made two appearances on popular podcasts targeted at Generation Z: one on “Call Her Daddy,” and the other in a sit-down interview for “60 Minutes.”
At present, Trump owns about 60% of DJT. With a market valuation of over $3.8 billion at current prices of about $19 per share, the former president owns a stake in Trump Media worth almost $2.3 billion. Right after the company’s public debut, Trump’s stock was worth slightly over $4.5 billion.
Following its merger with Digital World Acquisition Corp., a special-purpose acquisition company, Trump Media went public on the Nasdaq in late March. Since then, however, the stock has had a rough ride, with shares fluctuating between highs and lows because the movements have usually been correlated with a tumultuous news cycle.
The company’s shares saw their lowest trading level since its founding last month when its much-discussed lockup period ended.
Before being allowed to sell or transfer shares, stakeholders—including the previous president—were subject to a six-month lockup period. Even though Trump declared at the time that he would not sell his stock, the lockup period ended on September 19.
At a press conference before the lockup period ended, the former president declared, “I have no intention of selling.” “I adore it. I employ it as a means of communicating my message.
After incumbent commander-in-chief Joe Biden made a mistake during his first presidential debate with Trump in 2024, the market plummeted in June. A month later, Biden withdrew from the presidential contest.
Shares have been under pressure ever since Biden announced, as investors discuss the likelihood of Harris winning.
Following his conviction on all 34 counts of falsifying corporate records to influence the 2016 presidential campaign, Trump’s stock dropped 5% the day after the verdict was rendered in May. His sentencing has been rescheduled for November 26.
Ever since the company went public, its shares have dropped by about 70%.
After being banned from popular social media platforms including Facebook (META) and Twitter (X), Trump created Truth Social in the wake of the Capitol riots on January 6, 2021. Since then, Trump has been added back to those platforms. He had been away from X for approximately a year, but he formally returned in mid-August.
However, Truth Social’s foundation has long been questioned as it looks to challenge the industry leaders in social media.
When DJT released its second-quarter results in August, it showed a net loss of $16.4 million, of which the company’s SPAC deal-related expenses accounted for nearly half. Additionally, the company reported a 30% decrease in revenue year over year for the quarter that ended June 30, coming in at a little under $837,000.