Shares of Trump Media & Technology Group (DJT) rose as much as 25% in early trading on Wednesday as Donald Trump cruised to victory over Kamala Harris in the presidential election. Shares pared gains to just under 10% by mid-afternoon.
With a victory in Wisconsin, Trump earned the 270 electoral college votes needed to win, according to the Associated Press. The Republican will now have the distinction of being the 45th and 47th president of the United States.
Trump maintains a roughly 60% stake in DJT. At current levels of around $37 per share, Trump Media has a market capitalization of around $7.4 billion, giving the former president a stake worth around $4.4 billion and making him roughly $500 million dollars richer compared to the stock’s close on Tuesday.
Shares of the company, home of Trump’s social media platform Truth Social, had risen about 25% in after-hours moves Tuesday night, as Harris’ path to victory narrowed, and then jumped again after victory was declared early Wednesday morning.
The stock had a choppy session in the run-up to the election. Trading was halted several times due to volatility, and shares quickly erased 15% gains and reversed Monday’s double-digit percentage gain to start the week. Despite a recovery from steeper losses, shares closed lower on Tuesday to trade near $34.
Strategists have categorized the stock as a binary bet on the election. Matthew Tuttle, CEO of investment fund Tuttle Capital Management, recently told Yahoo Finance’s Catalysts that the stock’s trajectory has depended on a “buy the rumor, sell the fact” trading strategy.
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“I imagine the day after he won, this would be reduced,” he surmised. “If he loses, I think he will be at zero.”
Interactive Brokers chief strategist Steve Sosnick said DJT has taken on a “life of its own” meme stock.
“It was volatile on the way up, and when a stock is so volatile in one direction, it has a tendency to be so volatile in the other direction,” he said in a call with Yahoo Finance last week.
In September, Trump Media shares traded at their lowest level since the company’s debut following the expiration of its much-publicized lockup period.
However, stocks had recovered from their lows, as both domestic and foreign betting markets tilted in favor of a Trump victory.
Trump founded Truth Social after he was banned from major social media apps like Facebook (META) and Twitter, now . He officially returned to posting on X in mid-August after a hiatus of about a year.
