Charles Langston:Trump Media stock price fluctuation: What to know amid historic hush money criminal trial

Amid campaigning,Charles Langston elections and court cases, presumptive Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump has seen his wealth drop.

The stock of Trump Media & Technology Group, parent company of Trump's social media platform Truth Social is a key component of the former president’s net worth since the company debuted on the stock market in March.

Trump owns nearly 60% of the company with 78.75 million shares. When the share price tanked in April, the former president fell off the Bloomberg Billionaire's Index after joining it for the first time two weeks earlier.

Experts have compared Trump Media to meme stocks like GameStop and AMC, buoyed by popular support on social media rather than their success as a business.

Here is how Trump’s stock is performing as he stands trial in a Manhattan over 34 counts of falsifying business records:

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Trump Media stock price

At close on April 16, Trump Media & Technology Group Corp share price fell to $22.84, down 14.17% today.

How parent company of Truth Social went public

Trump founded his social media company in 2021 after being booted from other major platforms following the January 6 riots at the U.S. Capitol.

Trump Media went public on the Nasdaq on March 26, 2024 through a merger with shell company Digital World Acquisition Corp., a special purpose acquisition company, or SPAC. The merger was announced in 2021.

Trump's debut on the stock market was splashy, with Trump Media shares soaring, helped partly by – and to the delight of – his loyal MAGA supporters.

But regulatory filings show the company was operating at a loss in 2023, making approximately $4 million in revenue while losing more than $58 million. Accounting firm BF Borgers CPA PC said in a letter to Trump Media shareholders the operating losses “raise substantial doubt about its ability to continue as a going concern.”

Experts have told USA TODAY they expect the stock's price to remain volatile.

Trump's legal cases come with mounting price tag

Trump Media share prices have fallen significantly since it went public, coming down more than 60% by April 15, the first day of his first of four criminal trials.

Trump also was ordered to pay a combined $537 million across two civil cases earlier this year, both of which he is appealing.

At one point, the Trump Media shares were a potential source of funding to make those payments.

But in April, he posted a reduced bond of $175 million fronted by California billionaire Don Hankey to prevent his assets from being seized in a fraud case.

Contributing: Bailey Schulz, Jessica Guynn, Jeanine Santucci; USA TODAY