Pump-and-dump investors cash out on 'crazy' Trump
Post# of 123721
Brad Reed
April 2, 2024 7:52AM ET
Early investors in the Trump Media & Technology Group are telling Reuters that they made a quick profit by cashing out late last week just before the company's first financial report sent its share prices into a freefall on Monday.
One such investor was Mohammed Al Shalloudi, a 21-year-old data analyst from the United Arab Emirates, who rushed to invest in the Truth Media stock as soon as it became available because he believed he could get Trump supporters to pay premium prices for a stock that he believed was wildly overpriced.
Al Shalloudi's bet has already paid off, given that he bought up shares when they were trading at $37 a piece and then sold them off last week when the price hit $65.
"It was a no-brainer," he tells Reuters. "You buy the stock, wait for Trump's fan base to hear about it, and enjoy your profit."
A software developer who only wished to be identified as Sarah told Reuters that her calculus in investing in the Truth Social parent company was similar to Al Shalloudi's.
“I invested $10,000 last Tuesday because MAGA is crazy and they will pump the stock,” she explained.
While the share price of Trump Media was riding high at the end of last week, it came to a crashing halt on Monday when the firm released a financial report showing that it lost $58 million in the last year and generated just over $4 million in annual revenues.
As Forbes reported on Monday, this development has taken an axe to former President Donald Trump's personal stake in the firm, which some observers speculated he would use to help pay off his considerable legal bills.
"Trump, who owns 78.5 million shares in Trump Media, about 57% of all outstanding shares, accordingly had his stake in the social media venture slide from its peak of $6.25 billion to Monday’s $4.25 billion," the publication explained.