As excitement fades, Trump Media shares slump again, down nearly 60 percent from their peak

NEW YORK (AP) - Shares of Donald Trump's social media company slid again Monday, down nearly 60% from their peak late last month.

Trump Media & Technology Group (TM&T) is down 16.8% at $27.10 in midday trading as the excitement surrounding the stock fades. The stock has fallen sharply since Truth Social's owners merged with a shell company to make its shares trade on the NASDAQ resonance under the symbol "DJT" (Trump's initials), with shares trading near $80.

Part of the reason for the drop in the stock price could be the criticism that the stock price has far outpaced what skeptics say is the value of a losing company, especially one with little chance of success. But another part of the reason could also be the actions taken by the Trump media on Monday.

The company filed a document with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission, opening the door to the possible sale of millions of shares in the future. The filing, known as an S-1, covers investor-owned warrants that can be converted into stock, as well as stock held by company insiders.

This document also includes all of the shares held by the former President of Massachusetts. However, Trump is still bound by a "lock-up" agreement that essentially prevents him from selling his shares for about five months. His son, board director Donald Trump Jr, and chief executive officer Devin Nunes are also bound by the lock-up agreement.

Jay Ritter, an IPO stock specialist at the University of Florida's Warrington College of Business, says that typically, all stock held by insiders subject to lock-up trading will be included in such filings.

Trump Media & Technology Group, an Artech company based in Sarasota, Florida, said in a statement that the filing does not necessarily imply that any investor plans to sell shares.

Trump Media landed on NASDAQ after listing with a company called Digital World Acquisition Corp. which is essentially a pile of cash looking for a name. This is an example of a so-called Special Purpose Acquisition Company (SPAC), which allows young companies to go public and trade more quickly and easily.

Kristi Marvin, founder of SPACInsider.com, which specializes in SPAC transactions, says S-1s are typically filed quickly after a SPAC transaction closes, usually within 15 or 30 days.

The warrant exercises mentioned in Trump Media's S-1 filing will increase the number of outstanding shares of the company. This in turn will put downward pressure on the stock price. Where there is an increase in the amount of something in circulation, its price tends to go down unless there is a corresponding increase in demand for it.

The decline in Trump Media's stock price over the past few weeks has hurt its shareholders, who experts say are mostly investors with smaller pockets rather than large organizations, and some users of Truth Social have said they bought shares to show their support for the former Massachusetts.

The drop in stock price has also taken a direct hit on Trump's finances. According to the company, he could personally own nearly 114.8 million shares. That would be worth $3.15 billion at pre-previous prices. On March 27, it was worth nearly $7.6 billion.

On Monday, Donald Trump buttressed a New York court to begin selecting a jury in his hush-money case. This is the first trial against a former U.S. Commander of Arms.