On its first day of trading, Truth Social was soaring on Wall Street.
The social media platform founded by former President Donald Trump, and trading under his initials, looked to be a hit with investors Tuesday, according to Yahoo Finance.
It was such a big hit, in fact, that trading was briefly suspended.
Truth Social’s parent company, Trump Media and Technology Group, trades on the Nasdaq under the ticker symbol “DJT” — initials familiar to anyone who’s followed American politics even casually since Trump, formerly known mainly as a billionaire real estate mogul and reality TV star, entered the political arena for keeps in 2015.
Donald Trump’s Truth Social is officially public and trading under the ticker $DJT pic.twitter.com/2wS8C64wFS
— Benny Johnson (@bennyjohnson) March 26, 2024
The new company resulted from a merger of Trump Media and Technology with Digital World Acquisition Corp., as The New York Times reported Friday.
At 1 p.m. Tuesday, its stock was trading at $72.73 a share.
DWAC, the company’s previous Wall Street ticker symbol, which has been replaced by DJT, closed Monday at about $50 a share, according to Yahoo Finance.
Trading in the new company’s shares Tuesday was so brisk that it was temporarily halted soon after the opening bell, according to AOL. When trading resumed, it started rising again.
Supporters of the former president trumpeted the news of the stock’s initial success:
Donald Trumps Truth Social has officially gone public! (DJT)
Let the liberal snowflakes meltdown commence pic.twitter.com/mQofCvjJY8— Vince Langman (@LangmanVince) March 26, 2024
Throwing Donald Trump off of Twitter and causing him to create TruthSocial and DWAC, was the dumbest freaking thing they could’ve done. pic.twitter.com/JHd7qFIJaU
— Brian Cates – Political Columnist & Pundit (@drawandstrike) March 26, 2024
Donald Trump’s DWAC is now trading under the stock symbol: DJT & just hit $71 per share hahaha
Donald is making BILLIONS on taking truth social public & making liberal Karen’s scream
— Doug Osborne (@DougOsb70438101) March 26, 2024
In addition to the inherent drama of anything related to Trump, considering he’s the presumptive Republican presidential nominee and facing four criminal cases brought by Democratic prosecutors, the DJT stock was closely watched because of the civil judgment he faces in New York. (Trump’s reprieve from posting a bond on Monday didn’t dilute the interest the case generated.)
Would you consider buying Trump Media and Technology Group stock?
Trump himself owns about 60 percent of the company, according to USA Today.
The stock price was viewed by some observers through a political lens, rather than a judgment of the market about the stock’s ultimate financial future.
“This valuation may be more of a proxy on the enthusiasm of supporters for Trump than a reasonable estimate of underlying business prospects,” Thomas Hayes, chairman of Great Hill Capital, a New York hedge fund, told the Post.
Trump celebrated Truth Social in a Tuesday post on the platform.
“I LOVE TRUTH SOCIAL, I LOVE THE TRUTH!” he said.
