Reason # 55: Media Mogul
Why do we need to defeat Donald Trump and ensure that a Democrat occupies the White House?
Predictably, Donald Trump was outraged that Twitter would censor his posts and eventually ban him from the media program.
https://www.nbcnews.com/tech/tech-news/twitter-permanently-bans-president-donald-trump-n1253588
Things improved when the right-wing entrepreneur who Trump calls “Leon” Musk, bought out Twitter and re-christened it X but that was not sufficient for Donald. He was going to again display his business brilliance by making a cannonball splash into the pool of public media. He invested in a new public media enterprise sold to the public under the stock symbol DJT.
Having learned nothing from the impoverished investors who had put their money into multiple failed Trump ventures over the decades, right wing investors lined up to purchase stakes in DJT Media. The price soared over seventy dollars a share. Donald Trump had done it again. His 114 million shares in DJT were now worth more than $5 billion in profit! But there was a tiny catch, called a “lock-up”. Donald could not sell any of his shares until late September 2024. What could possibly go wrong?
First thing to go wrong is that Joseph Biden passed the reins of the Democratic Party on to his vice-president Kamala Harris. The DJT stock price took an immediate dip. Big deal. After their leader crushed the upstart black woman in the debates, the DJT would rebound.
Another hiccup. Harris trounced the ex-president in the debate. Even Fox News loyalists could not do other than to acknowledge that their fearless leader had gotten his bottom kicked. Now the DJT price began to seriously nosedive. Today it dropped below $16 a share.
This has dire implications. If the price drops to $13/share, then Donald is in the red.
https://www.barrons.com/articles/trump-media-stock-djt-truth-social-8f0cb6d6
The financials are not promising. Trump media has been performing very badly, operating expenses are enormous and incoming revenue is negligible, the company is vomiting value.
What do you do if you are a true believer who bought inflated shares at $70? You might hold on; if your ideal won the election, the stock price would predictably rebound, at least temporarily. But if he lost, all evidence suggests that the securities might become worthless paper. What will Donald do on September 19, a week from now? If the stock remains above $12/share he can put his shares up for sale? If below that figure, the earliest he can sell is September 25, 2024.
Trump owns approximately 60% of DJT Media stock. At one point, he was up $5.4 billion over his initial investment. His profit today would be substantially below a billion. If the stock dips below $13/share, he would begin to lose money on his initial enormous investment. Lots and lots and lots of money.
What to do? If I had been foolish enough to invest in DJT Media in the first place, I would read my cards and cut my losses by selling my shares. I would lose big, but at least get something back. If I and thousands of others followed this sell-off strategy, the Donald would be left holding the bag, an enormous bag containing 114 million very low priced securities.
Is this scenario plausible? The steady dip in price from $25 pre-debate to $15 today implies that these forces are already in play. As the deadline approaches September 19, the pressure on stockholders will increase. Would Donald Trump sell off his stock and leave thousands of investors in the lurch? In a heartbeat.
I believe that, in general, most Trump backers fall into two general categories: the dumb and the greedy. My prediction is that greedy investors (the dumb don’t have the money to invest) will panic and sell. Even if they don’t, can Trump find investors foolish enough to buy his 114 million shares and bail him out? Unlikely; even true believers have survival instincts.
general categories: the dumb and the greedy. My prediction is that greedy investors (the dumb don’t have the money to invest) will panic and sell. Even if they don’t, can Trump find investors foolish enough to buy his 114 million shares and bail him out? Unlikely; even true believers have survival instincts.
Post-script: Today 9/23/24, DJT stock fell to $12.79 per share.
Have a heart; use your mind, search your conscience, and vote for Democratic candidates – across the ballot – on November. 5th.
Who would vote for a loser who has led them into a catastrophic business investment?
Please share this message with your friends and please, add your thoughts, to expand upon what are only brief sketches here.
Fred Grannis
September 12, 2024