The stock markets are all over the place right now, and with President Donald Trump announcing his new 10% baseline tariff on foreign imports, while the likes of China and the European Union are slapped with much higher ones, he's steadfast on his mission to make America 'great' again.
Still, the knock-on effect of Trumpenomics has seen stocks tumble in American giants like Apple and Amazon, with some $2.3 trillion being wiped off the market in just 25 seconds. There are major fears about what Donald Trump's tariffs could do to the larger tech scene, with everything from laptops to the Nintendo Switch 2 potentially hitting consumers harder in the pocket.
If things weren't bad enough for the stock market, ABC News reveals that stocks in Trump's Truth Social social media platform have taken a dive, but for a completely different reason.
It comes after Trump Media and Technology Group filed an SEC registration on April 1, potentially allowing the President's trust to sell 115 million Truth Social shares. That amounts to just over $2.3 billion.
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Like concerns that Elon Musk's own brother was selling Tesla stocks, the move has sent shareholders into a spin.
Still, it's important to note that the filming doesn't confirm a sale or give any details about what a potential sale could involve. Since Trump returned to office on January 20, 2025, he's transferred his Truth Social stake into the Donald J. Trump Revocable Trust that's controlled by Donald Trump Jr.
Despite Truth Social stocks dropping by around 5% since the filing, they're down 10% in the last week alone. In fact, since Trump returned as POTUS, shares in Trump Media and Technology Group are down a whopping 45%.
This comes after a brief boost last September when he assured investors: "I don't want to sell my shares. I don't need money."
Trump Media and Technology Group is keen to downplay the idea that the big man wants out, releasing a statement saying: "Legacy media outlets are spreading a fake story suggesting that a TMTG filing today is paving the way for the Trump trust to sell its shares in TMTG.
"To be clear, these shares were already registered last June on an S-1 form, and today TMTG submitted a routine filing that re-registers them on an S-3 form in order to keep the Company's filings effective.
“In fact, there currently is no open window for any affiliate to sell shares."
Some have noticed that the timing of announcing a potential sale of his Truth Social stakes comes just before his sweeping tariff announcement. Skeptics claim that he planned an exit strategy in case things went wrong with his tariffs, while others say he was always going to leave investors out in the cold.
Elsewhere, University of Florida finance professor Jay Ritter warned how this potential sale could "really tank the share price," stating: "Trump Media has been pretty unsuccessful at creating an operating business model, but they have been quite successful at selling their stock."
Then again, with TMTG reporting a staggering $400 million loss against a pretty pitiful $3.6 revenue in 2024, many think the writing was already on the wall.