President-elect Donald Trump took to Truth Social on Friday to reiterate that he doesn’t plan to sell shares of Trump Media & Technology Group. He also called for an investigation from “the appropriate authorities” into “market manipulators or short sellers,” whom executives at the company and shareholders have previously blamed for volatility in the stock, which trades under the ticker symbol DJT.
DJT shares jumped shortly after Trump’s post, gaining as much as 16% on Friday. The stock rose $3.15, or 11.4%, to $30.84 in early afternoon trading, partly reversing a 23% plunge on Thursday that had trimmed some of the company’s gains in the run-up to the November 5 election.
Trump, who is the biggest shareholder of Trump Media with a 57% stake, said the business has been the target of “probably illegal rumors and/or statements” that he said allege he plans to sell shares of the company, which owns the Truth Social platform. In September, Trump had vowed not to sell his stake after a lock-up period expired for Trump Media insiders, allowing them to sell for the first time since the stock went public in March.
Trump Media, whose DJT ticker is the same as Trump’s initials, has seen extreme volatility on Nasdaq, with its shares swinging wildly on news related to the president-elect. That has prompted comparisons of DJT with meme stocks, or companies that trade on social media buzz rather than financial fundamentals such as revenue and profit growth.
Trump’s call for an investigation into trading of the stock highlight potential conflicts of interest between his role as the nation’s chief executive and his business interests, with his holdings in the company valued at $3.6 billion as of Friday afternoon. As president, Trump will not only have oversight of many federal agencies, but will also appoint the head of the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission, the agency that regulates the securities industry.
Although there’s no requirement that presidents sell their financial assets when they take office, most U.S. presidents have opted to put their business holdings into a blind trust, according to the Brennan Center for Justice, a nonpartisan law and policy institute.
A blind trust is managed by an independent trustee, and the president or other official who created the trust isn’t allowed to advise or consult with the trustee on business decisions.
During Trump’s first term as president, he chose not to place his company, the Trump Organization, into a blind trust, opting instead to hand over management of the company to his oldest two sons, Donald Jr. and Eric, along with its longtime chief financial officer, Allen Weisselberg. (Weisselberg was released from jail in July after pleading guilty to giving false testimony about the size of Trump’s triplex apartment as part of a civil fraud trial.)
Trump’s arrangement during his first administration was flagged by some ethics experts as problematic, with former chief White House ethics lawyer Norm Eisen writing in 2017 that it failed to resolve the conflicts of interest between Trump’s business holdings and his role as president.
Trump Media stock price chart
Trump Media has attracted short sellers, or investors who seek to make a profit when a stock tumbles. That drew accusations from Trump Media CEO Devin Nunes, a former Republican congressman, that these investors have manipulated the stock. Nunes has requested investigations by lawmakers and the Nasdaq stock market, where DJT is listed.
Because of Trump’s majority ownership of DJT stock, the stock would likely drop if he sold his shares “for any reason,” noted S3 Partners in a November 6 research note.
In his post on Truth Social Friday, Trump said he believes in Trump Media, and refuted claims that he is interested in selling shares.
“THOSE RUMORS OR STATEMENTS ARE FALSE. I HAVE NO INTENTION OF SELLING!” Trump wrote. “I hereby request that the people who have set off these fake rumors or statements, and who may have done so in the past, be immediately investigated by the appropriate authorities.”
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