Trump Media shareholder Justin Peedin said he plans to stand with Trump despite the former president’s historical conviction.
Courtesy of Justin Peedin
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Courtesy of Justin Peedin
When a New York jury convicted former President Trump, his supporter Justin Peedin in Florida was outraged.
So he decided to take a stand: by buying more stock in Trump’s social media company — while encouraging others to do the same.
“It’s almost time to show them what DJTArmy is all about!!!! Buy more today and hollllllld,” Peedin wrote in Truth Social shortly before trading began Friday.
Peedin is among a legion of Trump supporters who own stock in Trump Media & Technology Group — the company behind Truth Social.
Many supporters invested despite all the warnings from professional investors about a company that loses money and has little revenue.
And now, at a time when many investors would normally flee because of the former president’s conviction, Trump Media shareholders are vowing to redouble their anger over a conviction they view as a miscarriage of justice.
At least on Friday, their efforts to increase the stock were unsuccessful. After initially opening up around 15%, shares ended the day down 5%.
But far from being discouraged, Trump Media shareholders promise to hold on.
It’s the latest twist in what has been a volatile development for Trump Media shares since it debuted on the stock market in March by merging with a listed shell company.
For those who invested early, it has been a remarkably lucrative journey so far. But no one benefited more than former President Trump.
And now, whether those shareholders decide to hang on will determine the fortunes of a company that many on Wall Street have called a failure.
Lots of money at stake
Trump relies heavily on Trump Media. He owns almost two-thirds of the company.
Despite a major blow Friday, Trump’s stake was still valued at $5.6 billion — a windfall that put him on the Bloomberg Billionaires Index for the first time earlier this year.
That’s an incredible value for a company that lost more than $300 million in the first quarter and had almost negligible revenue. It also had just under 700,000 monthly active users as of April, compared to more than 76 million for X, according to Similarweb data.
Trump’s new fortune is thanks to the hundreds of thousands of investors who bought Trump Media, many of them to show their support for former President Trump.
Donald Trump attends his criminal trial at Manhattan Criminal Court in New York on May 29, 2024.
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Justin Peedin is one of them
Peedin became a Trump supporter in 2015. He was teaching English in an Arab village in Israel. He had left a sales job at a call center in Maryland. He says he left partly to escape racial strife in the United States and partly to reconnect with his Jewish heritage.
“I told myself that if I could help make peace there, we could make peace anywhere,” he said.
Peedin voted for Trump twice and believes the world needs Trump more than ever. This is why he also decided to invest in Trump Media.
“Unfortunately, the world isn’t all hugs and kisses everywhere. There are people who really want to do harm. And we need strong leadership,” he says. “I’m afraid for the future. 2024 is therefore a big year. And that’s why I’m invested in this, you know?
The Call of Truth Social
Peedin is a big fan of Truth Social. It’s a platform where he and others have found relief from what they see as censorship at rivals such as X and Facebook.
And Peedin believes that if the former president returned to the White House in November, Truth Social would become an incredibly valuable company.
“I think he has a good chance of winning again. And if he just uses this platform, I feel like there’s no limit with it,” Peedin says. “And I believe in it too, which is very rare to invest in something we believe in so much. “
Trump Media is losing money and has little revenue.
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Scott Olson/Getty Images North America
This belief has brought him quite a profit so far – at least on paper.
Peedin came in early, investing just over $50,000. He paid an average of about $35. With Trump Media now trading at $49, Peedin is sitting on a paper gain of about $20,000 — a significant return for a stock that media mogul Barry Diller recently called a “scam.”
Peedin said he bought a few more shares on Friday, a day after Trump’s conviction.
If he were to lose everything, Peedin says he could still feed his wife and child.
“I don’t play with my son’s diaper money, you know?” he says.
Wall Street is not impressed
Not everyone has made money from Trump Media.
The stock has been incredibly volatile on a day-to-day basis. They are now slightly below the day before its debut, but they delivered a nice return to those like Peedin who invested early.
Many professional investors have warned about the stock, which trades at valuations far higher than its financial performance should dictate – even though Truth Social faces multiple risks.
The company is trying to expand into the online video space and has announced plans to expand through mergers and acquisitions, both of which could go wrong.
More importantly, professional investors warn that the company’s fortunes are tied to former President Trump, who is scheduled to be sentenced in July after being found guilty on 34 counts.
Trump also still faces several other state and federal criminal cases, and the stock’s performance could be directly affected by his electoral fortunes in what is expected to be a heated presidential campaign.
The Trump issue
Still other risks loom. Trump could one day cash in and bail out the company — which could hurt shareholders like Peedin.
Trump can’t sell his shares yet. According to his current agreement, he must keep them until September, in the middle of the presidential campaign. But he could be allowed to sell even sooner by the Trump Media board, which is full of friendly voices, like his son Donald Trump Jr.
Yet none of these risks deter Peedin.
He continues to believe that Truth Social is a startup with immense potential, even after Trump’s conviction. He has unwavering confidence in the former commander in chief — and he believes Trump wouldn’t harm supporters like him by taking money from the company.
“I think he really cares about the people who support him,” he says. “Because if you look at it, it would be a bit like stabbing everyone in the back. And I don’t see him doing that.
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