NEW YORK (AP) — President Donald Trump’s media company plans to buy back up to $400 million of its stock, which have lost 46% of their value this year.
Trump Media and Technology Group, which operates the Truth Social media platform, said Monday that the acquisition will improve its financial flexibility. It will retire the shares after they are purchased, meaning these particular shares can't be reissued.
Companies can drive their stock higher by acquiring or removing the number of company shares outstanding. Trump is the largest stakeholder in Trump Media, with about 114 million shares.
Shares of Trump Media rose just over 2% Monday. But the shares appeared to peak about a month after the company went public in late March. Shares have been on a steady, downward trajectory since.
The company said early this year that it lost $400.9 million in 2024 and its annual revenue declined 12% to $3.6 million.
After winning the U.S. presidential election in November, Trump transferred all of his shares in the company — worth around $4 billion on paper — as a gift to the Donald J. Trump Revocable Trust. Trump’s shares amounted to more than half of the company’s stock.
The company said Monday that it will fund the buyback separately from its Bitcoin treasury strategy. Under that plan, institutional investors will buy $2.5 billion in the company’s stock with the proceeds going to build up a bitcoin reserve.
Trump Media joins other companies with similar cryptocurrency strategies, including cloud and mobile software developer MicroStrategy, which is building a reserve containing billions worth of bitcoin.