Trump Media & Technology Group, the owner of struggling social media platform Truth Social, is began its long-delayed journey as a public company at Tuesday’s opening bell under the ticker symbol “DJT.”

The stock surged about 56% at the open, to $78, and trading was briefly halted for volatility. Trump Media shares have since stabilized at around $70, marking a 40% increase from Monday’s close.

Wall Street is assigning Trump Media an eye-popping valuation of around $13 billion — a price tag that experts warn is untethered to reality.

The skyrocketing share price comes despite the fact that Trump Media is burning through cash; piling up losses; and its main product, Truth Social, is losing users.

“This is a very unusual situation. The stock is pretty much divorced from fundamentals,” said Jay Ritter, a finance professor at the University of Florida’s Warrington College of Business, who has been studying initial public offerings (IPOs) for over 40 years.

  • aidan@lemmy.world
    link
    fedilink
    arrow-up
    3
    arrow-down
    5
    ·
    8 months ago

    Russian financing how? They can’t access banks, I doubt they’re wasting precious foreign currency on this.

    • Rob T Firefly@lemmy.world
      link
      fedilink
      English
      arrow-up
      19
      ·
      edit-2
      8 months ago

      Just because they’re not allowed to access banks doesn’t mean they can’t.

      Lots of people, organizations, and even governments do all sorts of crimes even though they’re really not supposed to. Conceptually speaking, money laundering is a fairly simple crime to do and, like so many crimes, it becomes easier to get away with the more powerful you are.

        • Ann Archy@lemmy.world
          link
          fedilink
          arrow-up
          3
          arrow-down
          1
          ·
          8 months ago

          And if you’re gullible it’s easy to reframe them as part of the “nothing is happening in the world and geopolitics are not a thing” conspiracy theory.

            • Ann Archy@lemmy.world
              link
              fedilink
              arrow-up
              2
              arrow-down
              2
              ·
              edit-2
              8 months ago

              Yeah, us communists are all the same, just repetitive propagandistic slogans and dumb soundbites led by an uncharismatic moron telling us what to do.

              Go build a wall, or bridge or whatever.

              Edit: Wait, wait, you weren’t being sarcastic? If so my bad.

      • aidan@lemmy.world
        link
        fedilink
        arrow-up
        2
        arrow-down
        4
        ·
        8 months ago

        Every dollar you launder still has a risk of being caught, like I said, they have more pressing things to spend foreign currency on.

    • Omgpwnies@lemmy.world
      link
      fedilink
      English
      arrow-up
      13
      ·
      8 months ago

      They can still trade in rubles with other countries that are willing to trade with them. It’s not inconceivable that they can ‘launder’ a trade via, say India:

      1. Russia buys a few billion-ruble toothbrushes from India

      2. India invests the equivalent in USD with $DJT (minus a cut)

      3. India uses those rubles to trade at market value for goods with other countries that also trade in rubles

      Replace India and Saudi Arabia with any 2 countries on this list: https://www.tbsnews.net/economy/bangladesh-among-over-30-countries-approved-trade-rouble-russian-embassy-705798

      • aidan@lemmy.world
        link
        fedilink
        arrow-up
        1
        ·
        8 months ago

        Cluing in many people into conspiracies like that would require makes them much harder to keep secret

    • Ann Archy@lemmy.world
      link
      fedilink
      arrow-up
      3
      ·
      8 months ago

      I doubt they’re wasting precious foreign currency on this.

      Their EXISTENCE hinges on winning the US election right now.

      It’s literally ALL they are “wasting precious currency” on.

      • aidan@lemmy.world
        link
        fedilink
        arrow-up
        1
        ·
        8 months ago

        Their EXISTENCE hinges on winning the US election right now.

        What does this mean?