Donald Trump’s failure to respond to the arrival of Kamala Harris as his opponent is destroying billions of dollars in paper profits he has locked up in his near-60% owned Trump Media company. The question is, how soon will he sell out, leaving other investors holding increasingly worthless stock?
The lock on his controlling stake in Trump Media ends on September 19. He can’t sell until then. In recent weeks, he’s had to sit and watch as the value of the shares has fallen — and fallen, and fallen.
They fell to $US16.98 on Wednesday (down more than 6% in one day) to yet another a record low for this year. They fell below $US20 for the first time a week ago.
That means they have fallen 58% from their most recent peak of $US40.58 on July 15 — two days after the assassination attempt that at the time seemed to clinch the presidency for him — only for Joe Biden to give way to Kamala Harris and for the vice-president launch a near-perfect start to her campaign.
Trump’s stake in the company is now worth $US1.97 billion, compared to a book value of $US4.65 billion when the shares were at $US40.58.
Complicating matters for Trump is that two founding shareholders, who own 18 million shares, have the same lock date as him. The company tried and failed to use the courts to block the shareholders from selling come the 19th.
Trump’s long history shows that he won’t care about other investors in his ventures — he famously allowed his Atlantic City casino business to go bust while reaping enormous profits from it. Trump’s holding is still, at least for now, worth a lot of money. But in selling the shares, it will give us a good idea that he knows he has lost the election; that Trump Media’s one key asset — him — no longer has enough appeal to make the company a viable concern, and that he’s willing to withstand criticism for taking the money and running.
