Trump Media & Technology Group (DJT) skyrocketed on Monday after former President Donald Trump survived an assassination attempt at a rally in Pennsylvania on Saturday.
Shares of the parent company of Trump’s social media platform, Truth Social, rose as much as 41% to trade around $41 by midday trading. Other Trump-linked stocks, such as conservative-leaning video platform Rumble ( RUM ), saw shares rise more than 10%.
Bets predicting Trump’s victory in the election were dropped on several online betting sites after the event.
It was the first time a US president or a major party candidate had been shot since the 1981 assassination of President Ronald Reagan.
One political expert said the incident may not have a lasting impact on Trump’s presidential chances.
“This was a seismic event politically, and yet it didn’t have much of an impact on how people think about the election,” Terry Haines, founder of political consulting firm Pangaea, told Yahoo Finance, saying that although the event will have a ” short-term positive impact” on Trump’s campaign, he doesn’t think it has “a long-term outlook.”
“The logic of it doesn’t add up. . . . It’s a terrible event, but that doesn’t mean voters are going to be much more likely to [vote for him.]”
Shares of DJT have been on a bumpy ride in recent months, fluctuating between highs and lows.
Last month, the stock popped (then fell) after incumbent commander-in-chief Joe Biden stumbled in his first 2024 presidential debate with Trump.
In May, Trump was found guilty on all 34 counts of falsifying business records intended to influence the 2016 presidential campaign — a verdict that sent shares down 5% a day after the conviction.
Trump Media, the parent company of Truth Social, went public on the Nasdaq after merging with special-purpose buyout firm Digital World Acquisition Corp.
Shares have fallen about 30% since the company’s public debut in late March.
Trump founded Truth Social after being removed from major social media apps like Facebook ( META ) and Twitter, the platform now known as X, following the Capitol riots of January 6, 2021. Trump has since returned to those platforms.
In April, an updated regulatory filing showed Trump Media reported sales of just over $4 million as net losses totaled about $60 million for the full year ending Dec. 31. The company warned that it expects losses to continue amid larger profitability challenges.
In May, the company reported first-quarter results that revealed a loss of $327 million, mostly related to expenses related to its SPAC deal. The company disclosed that on April 29 over 621,000 different shareholders owned shares in Trump Media, noting that the “vast majority” of them were retail investors.
Trump holds approximately 60% of the shares in DJT. At current levels of about $41 per share, Trump Media boasts a market cap of about $5.6 billion, giving the former president a stake worth about $3.3 billion. Shortly after the company’s public debut, Trump’s shares were worth just over $4.5 billion.
In late April, the stock reached a milestone that provided Trump with an additional $1.2 billion in cash. However, interested parties are still subject to a six-month lock-up period before selling or transferring shares.
Alexandra Canal is a senior reporter at Yahoo Finance. Follow him to X @allie_canal, LinkedIn, and email her at alexandra.canal@yahoofinance.com.
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