Shares of Trump Media & Technology Group (DJT) soared Monday after former President Donald Trump survived an assassination attempt at a Pennsylvania rally on Saturday.
Shares of the parent company of Trump’s social media platform, TruthSocial, rose 41% to close around $41. Other stocks tied to Trump, such as conservative-leaning video platform Rumble (RUM), rose more than 20%.
Following the event, bets on Trump’s election victory surged at several online betting sites.
It will be the first time a U.S. president or major party candidate has been shot since the 1981 assassination attempt on President Ronald Reagan.
One political expert said the incident may not have a lasting impact on Trump’s chances of winning the election.
“This was a big deal politically, but it didn’t have much of an impact on how people thought about the election,” Terry Haines, founder of policy advisory firm Pangaea, told Yahoo Finance, adding that he thought the incident would have a “short-term positive impact” on the Trump campaign but didn’t have “long-term implications.”
“This logic doesn’t add up. … This is a terrible event, but it doesn’t make voters more likely to vote. [vote for him.]”
DJT’s stock price has been fluctuating between highs and lows in recent months.
Last month, stocks soared (and then fell) after current President Joe Biden stumbled with Trump in the first 2024 presidential debate.
In May, Trump was found guilty on all 34 counts of falsifying business records with the intent to influence the 2016 presidential election. The verdict led to a 5% drop in stock prices the day after the conviction.
Truth Social’s parent company, Trump Media, went public on the Nasdaq after merging with special purpose company Digital World Acquisition Corporation.
The company’s shares have fallen about 30% since its IPO at the end of March.
Republican presidential candidate and former president Donald Trump is surrounded by U.S. Secret Service agents during a campaign rally in Butler, Pennsylvania, Saturday, July 13, 2024. (Photo by Associated Press/Evan Vucci) (AP)
Trump founded Truth Social after he was banned from major social media apps, including Facebook (META) and Twitter (the platform now known as X), following the Jan. 6, 2021, attack on the Capitol. Trump has since returned to those platforms.
In an updated regulatory filing in April, Trump Media reported revenue of just over $4 million and a net loss of nearly $60 million for the fiscal year ended Dec. 31. The company warned that it expects losses to continue amid growing profitability issues.
The company released its first-quarter financial results in May, revealing a loss of $327 million, primarily due to costs related to the SPAC transaction. The company said more than 621,000 shareholders held shares in Trump Media as of April 29, noting that the “vast majority” of them were individual investors.
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Trump owns about 60% of DJT. Currently, at about $41 per share, Trump Media’s market capitalization is about $5.6 billion, meaning the former president’s stake is worth about $3.3 billion. Shortly after the company went public, Trump’s stake was worth just over $4.5 billion.
The company’s stock price hit a milestone in late April, and President Trump secured an additional $1.2 billion in cash, but shareholders must abide by a six-month lockup period before they can sell or transfer their shares.
Alexandra Canal is a senior reporter at Yahoo Finance. Follow her at Yahoo Finance. translatorvisit me on LinkedIn or email me at alexandra.canal@yahoofinance.com.
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