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Amid early market turmoil on Wednesday, shares of Trump Media spiked 8%.
President Donald Trump posted on his social media site, Truth Social, on Wednesday morning: “This is a great time to buy!!! DJT.” DJT is both the stock ticker for Trump Media and Technology Group (DJT-0.05%) and the president’s initials.
Shares of Trump Media, the company that owns Truth Social, started the day at $16.60 per share at 9:30 a.m. ET. The president’s post came seven minutes later — and three minutes after that, at 9:40 a.m. ET, the company’s stock price had climbed to $17.47.
Following news that Trump would pause most tariffs for 90 days, Trump Media’s stock price has continued to rise throughout the day. Shares reached $20.32 at 2:40 p.m. ET.
Earlier in the day, Trump posted: “BE COOL! Everything is going to work out well. The USA will be bigger and better than ever before!”
The president’s ownership of Trump Media, which has a market capitalization of more than $4 billion, made him one of the world’s 500 richest people last year, with a fortune of as much as $6.5 billion. Today, Forbes’ Real-Time Billionaires List estimates that the president has a net worth of $4.5 billion.
According to a regulatory filing, a trust overseeing the president’s stake in Trump Media could soon sell up to 115 million shares.
Trump Media filed to register up to 142.5 million shares and warrants for sale, according to a filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. That includes 114.75 million shares of common stock held by Trump’s trust, which is controlled by Donald Trump, Jr., the president’s eldest son. Axios first reported on the filing.
The SEC will need to consider the filing effective before stockholders such as Trump’s trust and ARC Global, which sponsored Trump Media’s special-purpose acquisition company, can sell their shares.
In a statement, Trump Media denied that the filing indicates Trump’s trust or other insiders plan to sell their shares.
“To be clear, these shares were already registered last June on an S-1 form, and today TMTG submitted a routine filing that re-registers them on an S-3 form in order to keep the Company’s filings effective,” the company said. “In fact, there currently is no open window for any affiliate to sell shares.”
–William Gavin contributed to this report.