Trump Media & Technology Group's nest egg has lost about half its value in the past two weeks, as its stock price has fallen from $66 after going public last month to $32 on Friday. But McClain, 71, who runs a tree removal service outside Oklahoma City, said he's not worried. In fact, he wants to buy more.
“We know very well that it's in President Trump's hands, and he has a plan,” he said. “I have no doubt that it will explode at some point.”
For shareholders like McClain, investing in Truth Social is less a business calculation and more an expression of confidence in the former president and the business trading under his initials, DJT.
Even though the company's stock price may plummet and most of your investment may be wiped out, that belief remains unwavering. The company has lost $3.5 billion in value since going public last month.
As a business, Trump Media is nearly overwhelmed. The company lost $58 million on $4 million in revenue last year, less than the average Chick-fil-A franchise, despite paying out millions of dollars in executive compensation, bonuses and stock. .
And over the past two years, Truth Social has attracted a fraction of the traffic that other platforms see, according to estimates from analytics firm Similarweb. This is one of the only ways to measure its performance, given that the company says it “currently does not.” We may never collect, monitor or report certain key operating metrics used by companies in similar industries. ”
But for some Trump investors, the stock is a badge of honor, a way to show their dedication even more than buying Trump merchandise, visiting a Trump golf course or donating to Trump's campaign.
Trump Media spokeswoman Shannon Devine said in a statement that “Truth Social is a company that is targeting Big Tech by paying a portion of the startup and operating costs incurred by traditional tech companies, or more than $200 million. “We have established a beachhead for freedom of speech.” The support within the bank and the support of hundreds of thousands of individual investors who passionately believe in our mission. ”
The Trump media has boasted that it is benefiting from an influx of “retail investors,” small and amateur shareholders who are betting their personal cash. Merger partner Digital World Acquisition said its stock had been bought by nearly 400,000 retail investors, and Trump Media CEO Devin Nunes said Sunday that Fox News anchor Malia -Told Bartiromo that the company has added more than 200,000 new shares in the past few years. several weeks.
“No other company has so many individual investors,” Nunes said. Nunes will receive a $1 million salary this year, a $600,000 retention bonus and an equity package currently worth $3.7 million.
In an interview last month with conservative commentator Sean Hannity, the former Republican congressman detailed his recent meeting with President Trump, in which the two “opened up the internet and kept it open to the American people.” He said he celebrated.
“I'll never forget the conversations we had,” Nunes said. “He said, 'If we all die, this will go on forever.'”
Many of Truth Social's investors say they intend to invest for the long term. Todd Schlanger, an interior designer at a West Palm Beach furniture store, said Trump was one of his clients, and that he has invested a total of about $20,000 and buys new stocks every week.
Schlanger said he is currently monitoring stock price movements daily in hopes of positive signs. In a post on Truth Social last week, he encouraged “all those who support Donald Trump and Truth.” [Social to] “Buy stocks every day,” he asked, “Do you think we've hit the bottom?” (Stock prices fell nearly 10 percent after this post.)
He suspects that the recent decline in stock prices is the result of “stock price manipulation” in an “organized effort” to make the company look bad. Although there is no evidence of such a campaign, Schlanger is convinced. “It must be political,” he said, from all the “liberals trying to bring it down.”
The range of that sentiment is on full display on Truth Social, where thousands of mostly anonymous accounts are clustered into meme-filled investor groups, including one where President Trump is a Wall Street trading platform. It is decorated with a computer-generated image showing a raised fist.
Recently, some accounts have been encouraging traders to continue investing in the battle of “good versus evil,” saying this is a way to protect Trump and the liberal elites who ridicule him. User @BaldylocksUSMC said that “this battle has been long and hard for most of us,” adding that “this stock is not for the weak,” but that someday “we will be brainwashed beyond repair.” He said he thought it would win over the critics.
After billionaire media mogul Barry Diller called Trump Media a “fraudulent” stock bought by “narcs,” an account @Handbag72 claimed to have bought more shares, prompting Diller to claimed they did not “understand” or were “at risk of infection”. [losing] $$$$. ” The next day, the account shared a 2021 blog post from investment forum Seeking Alpha that said Truth Social could be worth $1 trillion over the next 10 years.
But there are also flickers of uncertainty and disillusionment, with some facing thousands of dollars in losses or saying they've “taken a risk.” [literally] all. ” One user posted, “Are you tired of winning yet?” As the stock soared earlier this year, he posted that this week's losses were “sick to my stomach.”
User @bill7718 wrote, “Come on, DJT. Every time you buy more, the price drops further.” “When is it going to bottom!!” (On Thursday, he posted a chart showing the stock's price rising slightly, with the caption “It's moving!!”, but the price has since fallen.)
User @manofpeace123 bought the stock for $65, saying 71 percent of his portfolio was in DJT stock, and that the investment was a message to President Trump: “I believe in you and I'm with you through the good times and the bad.” It's a way to communicate, he said Wednesday. ” But the next day, the user added: …I feel like I'm trying to catch a falling knife. ”
Another account, @realJaneBLONDE, posted on Sunday: “I'm not panicking, I'm not worried,” and two days later followed up with a message urging President Trump and Congressional Republicans to make betting and short selling on stocks “illegal.” posted.
“I'm tired of my investment funds being stolen!!” she wrote. “They are stealing people’s money and you are allowing it to happen!!”
Some users said they were “confused” by the ups and downs in the stock price, and one asked for advice on how to tell her husband she didn't want to sell. One user posted a meme image that read, “If you're worried about money, remember this: DJT stock is about free speech, and without free speech, money doesn't mean much.” did.
However, other users considered such a question as an unacceptable sign of suspicion. When user @seneca1950 asked if anyone was concerned that the company's future plans to issue tens of millions of additional shares would cause its stock price to fall, two accounts posted “FUD” (Fear, Uncertainty, Doubt). ) criticized this account for spreading the word.
“Are you a fado star,” wrote a user named “Jesus Revolution 2024.” Another person named Love Bristol wrote, “You must be short and have no way out!”
In a moment of apparent desperation, some users are trying to lift each other up by claiming they are enduring the same kind of “deep state” attacks that have long kept Trump himself in the shadows.User @BingBlangBlaow said it was embarrassing to be so “in the red” and asked why “everyone [was] They're acting like everything is fine,'' said Chad Nedohin, a Canadian investor and prominent stock cheerleader at Truth Social and video site Rumble. [one’s] That's all well and good, but we're DJT now. The deep state is attacking Trump and us. ”
However, users later posted that they were not convinced by this argument. “I'm tired of blaming the deep state,” he said. He then added: “The biggest political movement in history would want to support whoever is leading it and get much better numbers than this.” (The account did not respond to messages or provide a way to contact them.)
Carol Swain, a prominent Nashville conservative commentator and former political science professor at Vanderbilt University, told Trump Media earlier this month, over the objections of financial advisers who predicted a sharp decline in stock prices. He said he invested $1,000 in the stock at $48 a share.
“It's okay if I lose it. It would be great if I made a profit. But at the end of the day, I wanted to show support,” she said. “There have been so many efforts to destroy him and strip him of his wealth, and he's so gleeful about it. I want to see him come out victorious.”
She also suspects stock manipulation, claiming that “people who hate Donald Trump will do anything to hurt him.” As for Truth Social itself, her posts are modest and she said she prefers X because she has 35x more followers. “I always wanted to do more than just preach to the choir,” she said.
McLean, owner of Oklahoma Tree Service, said the stock could “easily reach $1,000 a share” if the media stopped writing so negatively about the company and the company overcomes its growing pains. He said he believes there is a sex. He said the company's executives have been “too quiet right now” during questions about the stock decline, but he suspects that's because they're working on something new and surprising. .
McClain is an amateur trader. He had only invested once before and “lost” [his] He then said he hadn't told his family about his investments and said, “You know what happens with that.” But he said he believes the deal with Trump Media is a sign he “should invest.”
“This is more than just a stock to me. … I feel like Almighty God put it in my lap,” he said. “I just have to be patient and let them do their job. If you let your emotions get the better of you, you'll snap out of it the first time things get tough.”
Razan Nakrawi contributed to this report.
