Trump Media & Technology Group's stock climbed about 50% at the opening bell before being halted briefly due to volatility. It is currently trading at around $70 a share.
Shares of former President Donald Trump's social media company surged on Tuesday morning during its first day of trading on the Nasdaq.
Trump Media & Technology Group's stock climbed about 50% at the opening bell before being halted briefly due to volatility.
The company is the parent of the social media app Truth Social.
Trump Media & Technology Group went public through a merger with the use of a special purpose acquisition company, Digital World Acquisition Corp. (DWAC), which approved the merger last week.
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Trump owns nearly 80 million shares in the company, giving him ownership of about 58% of the new legal entity. That stake – which was initially valued at about $3.3 billion – rose closer to $4 billion ahead of its stock market debut.
While those assets could provide the former president with a cash infusion as he deals with expensive legal battles in civil and criminal court, Trump may be unable to access those funds for a period of time due to restrictions on the stock following its initial public offering (IPO).
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Leading shareholders in IPOs are often subject to restrictions that require them to hold their shares for at least six months as a means of protecting those who purchased the stock post-IPO from unanticipated volatility caused by a large quantity of shares being sold unexpectedly. Such restrictions also apply to other arrangements like taking out a loan against the value of the stock.
The company's board could waive those restrictions to allow Trump to sell his shares earlier than six months. However, the need for such an arrangement may have been negated by Monday's ruling by a New York appeals court in Trump's civil fraud case that reduced his required bond from the full $454 million judgment against him to $175 million while he appeals the underlying ruling.
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The former president said that he'll be able to cover that smaller amount using "either a bond, equivalent securities, or cash."
This comes after his legal team said they were unable to secure a bond covering the $454 million judgment, which raised the prospect of the state of New York moving to seize his assets.
