Worth $88 million
Major shareholders sell shares in Trump’s Truth Social
September 27, 2024, 10:55 a.m
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The co-founders of Donald Trump’s media startup sold more than 7.5 million shares in a week. The background is legal disputes and an expired sales stop. Is there now a risk of another price fall?
The former contestants on Donald Trump’s television show “The Apprentice” who co-founded his media startup are wasting no time selling millions of shares in the company. Andy Litinsky and Wes Moss’ United Atlantic Ventures sold more than 7.5 million shares of Trump Media & Technology Group within a week, according to media reports. A so-called lockup agreement had previously expired last week. This prohibited the sale of shares for a period of six months. The shares are said to be worth at least $88 million.
The stock sale is not surprising since Litinsky and Moss are embroiled in a legal battle with Trump Media. The accusation: When founding the company, you made a series of “reckless and wasteful decisions” that caused significant damage.
“Moss and Litinsky failed spectacularly across the board,” the lawsuit says. It also asks the court to force Litinsky and Moss to return their shares in the company. Litinsky and Moss had previously filed their own lawsuit against Trump, alleging that the former president planned to dilute their stake in the new company.
Trump: “I don’t need money”
Before the sale by Litinsky and Moss, there was speculation as to whether Trump himself would sell shares. However, the concerns seem unfounded – just last week, Trump told reporters: “A lot of people think I’m going to sell my stocks. I mean, they’re worth billions of dollars. But I don’t want to sell my stocks. I’m not going to sell my stocks. I don’t need any money.” The risk that main shareholder Trump could withdraw from the company and further weigh on the share price has been hanging over the share price for weeks.
According to recent information, Trump owns 114.75 million shares of Trump Media. This share was still worth $6.2 billion in mid-May. However, Trump Media’s stock price has plummeted in recent months, hitting a record low earlier this week.
Trump’s stake is worth about $1.6 billion based on Thursday’s closing price of $13.98. In after-hours trading, the share price fell by about 1 percent after the share sale was announced.