Donald Trump’s Meme Stock Moment

The Journal.

The Wall Street Journal

Daily News, Business News, News

4.2 • 5.3K Ratings

🗓️ 28 March 2024

⏱️ 16 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

Not long ago, Donald Trump’s social-media company, Truth Social, seemed like it was on life support. But when the company went public this week, its stock soared. WSJ’s Amrith Ramkumar explains how Truth Social’s valuation shot up despite its weak revenue and user numbers, and what it could mean for Trump’s financial and political future. Further Reading: - Truth Social Stock Price Surges on First Day of Trading, Increasing Trump’s Fortune - Trump Can Post Smaller $175 Million Bond in Civil Fraud Case - Dear Donald Trump, Here’s How to Manage Your Stock-Market Fortune Further Listening: - Trump Needs $450 Million He Doesn’t Have - Biden vs. Trump: The Rematch Nobody Wants Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Transcript

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0:00.0	Earlier this week, Donald Trump's social media company, Truth Social,
0:09.7	started trading on the stock market.
0:12.4	The planned public listing had been in the works for years,
0:15.0	but for a long while, it seemed the deal was on life support.
0:19.0	Here's our colleague Amrith Ramkumar.
0:21.0	This deal nearly fell apart several times over two and a half years, and at many points it looked
0:27.8	like regulators or investigators might trip it up and it looked like it might not get done.
0:34.0	But then, last week, investors who support Trump joined together to buy shares of a company
0:40.0	that would take truth social public and push the stock price way up.
0:45.0	Individual investors all around the country, thousands of them have come together on social media
0:49.8	to buy this stock in a way that they have with GameStop and others in the past.
0:56.1	And to be clear, the company we're talking about, Truth Social, is a struggling business.
1:01.0	They have very little sales, they have very few users, and yet they're valued at something
1:05.2	like 8 and a half $9 billion, seemingly overnight because they have Trump. The disconnect
1:10.8	between the actual business and the stock price is just absolutely bonkers.
1:15.0	Trump owns 60% of truth social, so the surge in the company's value has suddenly created a possible windfall for him. The
1:25.0	surge in the company's value has suddenly created a possible windfall for him, just when the former president needs money the most.
1:31.0	Welcome to the journal,
1:32.0	our show about money, business, and power.
1:35.0	I'm Jessica Mendoza.
1:37.0	It's Thursday, March 28th. Coming up on the show, will truth social actually make Trump a fortune? This episode is brought to you by Empower.
2:04.0	If you're like most people, you've had your fair share of financial questions.
	...

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