(CNBC) Trump Media is making a point of telling its shareholders how to prevent their stock from being loaned to short sellers — who bet the price of the shares will drop.
The short-selling-prevention tips posted Wednesday on Trump Media’s website come as its DJT stock has sharply fallen in price since it began being public trading on March 26 — and as short sellers have taken a keen interest in the owner of the Truth Social app despite relatively high fees to finance such trades.
The stock slumped by 20% last week alone, and then plummeted by more than 18% on Monday and another more than 14% on Tuesday.
The share price Wednesday was nearly 46% lower than its closing price on April 1, the same day Trump Media disclosed it had booked a $58 million loss for 2023, with just $4.1 million in revenue for that year.
Former President Donald Trump is by far the biggest shareholder in Trump Media, owning nearly 60% of its shares. And his 78.75 million shares could soon grow by 36 million shares if DJT’s price stays above $17 per share in the coming days due to an earnout provision in the merger deal that took the company public.
But Trump, who is the presumptive Republican presidential nominee, and Trump Media since late March have seen billions of dollars in share value evaporate from share price declines.
On Wednesday, following two straight days of sharp price drops, the company included a supplement to its frequently asked questions list on its website, which it detailed in an 8-K filing on Thursday morning with the Securities and Exchange Commission.
