The sell-off in Trump Media accelerated Thursday, with shares losing 15% in a day of high turnover.
The share price ended the trading day at $US26.75 per share, more than 40% lower than at the start of June, when Trump Media stock was just over $US49 a share.
The company’s declining price coincided with a period of massive trading activity. More than 13.2 million shares of Trump Media changed hands on Thursday, more than three times its average volume. Analysts found the huge volume odd given the company generates so little revenue and income.
Thursday’s slump followed a 10% drop on Tuesday ahead of an announcement from the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). This led to the shares losing another 17% in after-hours trading ahead of Wednesday’s public holiday.
After Tuesday’s close, Trump Media revealed that the SEC had declared its registration statement effective. This statement authorized early investors in Trump Media to exercise warrants they hold in the company, allowing them to publicly resell securities covered by the registration statement.
In the five days leading up to Thursday’s close, the shares are down 34%, adding to the existing paper losses for Trump, the majority owner of Trump Media.
Trump’s 114,750,000 shares in the company were worth more than $US5.6 billion at the beginning of June, but they were valued at $US3.2 billion based on Thursday’s close.
Trump Media has been in a slump since May 30, when a New York jury convicted the former president and presumptive Republican presidential nominee on 34 felony counts of falsifying business records to conceal a payoff to Stormy Daniels.