Trump Media stock drops more than 10% to open trading week
- President-elect Donald Trump this week transferred his entire stake of shares in Trump Media to a revocable trust of which he is the sole beneficiary, regulatory filings revealed.
- Trump did not receive any money for the gift of the 114,750,000 shares to the Donald J. Trump Revocable Trust on Tuesday, according to a filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.
- Trump Media, which trades under the DJT ticker, closed at $35.41 per share, making the value of the transferred stock more than $4 billion.
President-elect Donald Trump this week transferred his entire stake of shares in Trump Media to a revocable trust of which he is the sole beneficiary, regulatory filings revealed Thursday evening.
Trump did not receive any money for the gift of his 114,750,000 shares of Trump Media stock to the Donald J. Trump Revocable Trust on Tuesday, according to a filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.
Because Trump is the beneficiary of the trust, he now "indirectly" owns the Trump Media shares he transferred, the SEC filing noted.
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The president-elect's son, Donald Trump Jr., is the sole trustee of the trust, and has sole voting and investment power over securities held by the entity, according to a separate SEC filing Thursday.
Trump Media, which trades under the DJT ticker, closed at $35.41 per share Thursday, making the value of the transferred stock more than $4 billion.
Trump, who is set to be sworn in as president for a second non-consecutive term on Jan. 20, had been the largest individual shareholder in the social media company, which operates the Truth Social app. His stake represented nearly 53% of the company's outstanding shares.
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The company has a market capitalization of more than $7 billion, a figure that dwarfs the firm's meager sales.
Trump Media on Nov. 5 — Election Day — reported quarterly revenue of just $1.01 million, and a net loss of $19.2 million. The company also reported that it ended the third quarter with $673 million in cash and investments, with no debt.
A spokesperson for Trump did not immediately respond to a request for comment on the share transfer.
A Trump Media spokeswoman did not comment on the transaction beyond pointing to the two SEC filings that detailed the move and the role played by Trump's son in the trust.
The SEC filing on Thursday said that after Trump transferred his shares, he "directly owned 0 shares of Trump Media & Technology Group Corp. and indirectly owned 114,750,000 shares of Trump Media & Technology Group Corp."
"The reporting person [Trump] is the settlor and sole beneficiary of the Trust," the filing said.
The type of transfer Trump used this week is not new for the president-elect, although the dollar value of his shares outpaces the value of any assets he previously moved.
Before his first inauguration as president in 2017, Trump made similar transfers to the same revocable trust.
At that time, Trump transferred various real estate holdings, assets and liabilities to the trust, according to reports produced by Mazars, which then was his accounting firm.
He also made transfers to the trust in February 2016, when he was campaigning for president.
Trump has not held an executive position in Trump Media, whose shares began public trading earlier this year after the then-privately held company merged with a public company, Digital World Acquisition Corp.
Trump has nominated two Trump Media's board members to high-level positions in his administration.
Trump tapped former pro-wrestling mogul Linda McMahon to become secretary of Education and Kash Patel, a former Trump White House official, to become the next FBI director.
Trump also recently named Trump Media CEO Devin Nunes to chair the President's Intelligence Advisory Board.
That position does not require Senate confirmation.
Trump has said that Nunes, who previously represented a California district in the House of Representatives, will remain CEO of Trump Media.
- CNBC's Christina Wilkie contributed to this report.
