Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump told reporters on Friday that he has no plans to sell his majority stake in the company that owns Truth Social and has no plans to walk away from the social media platform he founded.
Shares of Trump Media Technology Group surged 30% following his comments, before closing up 12%.
Trump owns about 57% of Trump Media, whose shares plummeted this week following his televised debate with Democratic rival Vice President Kamala Harris.
Friday's surge in stock prices came after weeks of steady declines ahead of a key date this month when President Trump and other company officials are allowed to sell stock.
“No, I'm not planning on selling,” the former president said in response to a question from Reuters. “I'm not planning on leaving. I love it. I think it's great.”
Trump Media's value has ballooned to nearly $10 billion since it went public on the stock market in March. Trump Media shares are popular among individual investors, who see them as a speculative investment in the chances that Trump will secure a second four-year term as president.
But since going public, Trump Media's shares have lost much of their value, and the decline has accelerated in recent weeks as President Biden gave up his reelection bid and Trump lost his large lead in the polls ahead of the Nov. 5 presidential election.
Under the terms of Trump Media's IPO, Trump and other insiders will be allowed to sell shares starting later this month, potentially pumping more shares into the market.
If the stock price remains above $12 for 20 trading days starting on Aug. 22, Trump will be free to sell his shares starting on Sept. 20. Otherwise, he will be free to sell his shares starting on Sept. 26.
Following Trump's comments, the stock closed at $17.97 on Friday, valuing his stake at about $2 billion. Forbes magazine values Trump's net worth at $3.7 billion.
Trump Media's revenue is equivalent to the sales of two Starbucks coffee shops, and strategists say the company's $3.6 billion market cap is out of touch with the fundamentals of its business, which lost $869,900 in its most recent quarter ended June 30.
“This company has no fundamental foundation. It has no path to profitability. It's just driven by rhetoric and hopes and dreams,” said Dennis Dick, a trader at Triple D Trading.
Jay Woods, chief global strategist at Freedom Capital Markets, said ahead of Trump's comments that he wouldn't sell that the expiration of lockups related to Trump's shares “is something that a lot of people have been paying attention to for a few weeks, if not now.”
A New York judge earlier this month postponed a ruling in President Trump's hush-money criminal trial until November 12, after the election and several months after the U.S. Supreme Court's landmark ruling on presidential immunity, easing at least some short-term pressure over legal costs.
