As the key sale date for DJT approaches, Trump Media experiences a decline in 2024 gains.

• Trump Media shares closed Wednesday below where they ended 2023.
• The stock price of Truth Social, founded by Donald Trump, has declined before the date when he can sell his stake.
• The stock has dropped over 75% from its highest point during its first day of trading on Nasdaq after merging with a special purpose acquisition company.

On Wednesday, shares of Truth Social closed below their value at the end of 2023, as the stock of the company continued to decline before majority-owner Donald Trump can sell his stake.

The market capitalization of the DJT company has decreased by billions of dollars after a brief surge in mid-July due to the former president surviving an assassination attempt, followed by a slump.

On the day, Trump Media's stock price dropped by 6%, ending at $16.98 per share.

The stock has dropped over 75% from its highest intraday price of $79.38 per share, which it reached on its Nasdaq debut in March after Trump Media's merger with a special purpose acquisition company.

Since then, the stock price of Trump Media has fluctuated, with traders and analysts categorizing it as a meme stock and its value being influenced by the political standing of the Republican presidential candidate.

At the market close on Dec. 29, 2023, the SPAC, Digital World Acquisition Corp., had shares worth $17.50.

In mid-January, around the time Trump became the clear frontrunner in the Republican presidential primary, they appeared.

Although Trump Media has lost millions of dollars in revenue and generated little from Truth Social ad sales, its market capitalization is currently $3.5 billion, down from its post-merger peak of nearly $8 billion in late March.

Nearly 59% of the company's outstanding shares are owned by Trump, which at Wednesday's price were worth approximately $2 billion, or about half of his total on-paper net worth, according to Forbes.

Until the lock-up agreement expires, which could be on or before Sept. 19, Trump and other company insiders are prohibited from selling their shares.

Speculation about whether Trump will sell or retain his shares has increased due to the approaching deadline.

If he decides to sell, he may undermine other investors' confidence in the stock and further lower the price.

Trump Media requested a temporary restraining order from a Florida judge to prevent two firms from selling more than 18 million shares following the expiration of their lockup period in the SPAC merger.

The sale, which the company had described as "imminent," was denied.

A representative from Trump Media declined to provide a comment on the stock price.

As the lock-up deadline nears, Trump has been posting more frequently on social media platforms such as TikTok and Elon Musk's X.

Despite this, Trump still promoted Truth Social in a recent interview with Lex Fridman.

"Trump stated that truth is extremely powerful and has been very effective on his platform."

"As soon as I do it, it goes everywhere," he added, stating that truth has become a very successful platform and he enjoys doing it.