Tech / Geek
Trump Media scrambles to stop short sellers from tanking share prices
Trump Media and Technology Group, the parent company of Truth Social, is scrambling to stop short sellers from tanking its share values.
NBC News reports that Trump Media this week sent around suggestions to shareholders to prevent their shares in the company from winding up in the hands of short sellers who are essentially betting on the company's failure to make money.
According to NBC, the "tips include holding DJT shares in a cash account at a brokerage firm as opposed to a margin account, 'opting out of any securities lending program,' moving Trump Media shares to the company’s designated transfer agent, and transferring shares to a bank and 'holding them in your retirement account.'"
Short sellers essentially pay brokerage firms fees to borrow shares on a temporary basis on the belief that the shares will sink in price.
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After borrowing the shares, the short sellers proceed to sell them on the open market and then by them back by a specific date when they have to be returned to their owners.
If the share price in that time has indeed gone down, then the short sellers pocket the difference they made between the original sale and the repurchase.
If the share price increases, however, the short sellers lose money because they'll be buying back the shares at a higher price than the original sale.
Short sellers have swarmed to Trump Media shares for weeks now, as its price has plummeted from a high of $66.22 on March 27th to a low of $22.84 on Tuesday, although its price has recovered some of that lost value in the last day-and-a-half of trading.
The longer-term threat to Trump Media's value likely isn't short sellers, however, but simply a lack of profitability. The selloff in shares started earlier this month when the company released an earnings report showing that it lost $58 million in the last fiscal year while generating just $4 million in revenues.
‘Going to need some Democrats’: Jake Tapper corners Speaker Johnson in rare CNN interview
House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-LA) was confronted by CNN's Jake Tapper on Wednesday morning about how exactly he plans to fend off the motion to remove him from power being planned by Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-GA) and her allies, and whether he has looked for any votes from Democrats to save him in the midst of a critically narrow House majority.
Johnson had few answers to any of these questions.
"I'm wondering, have you talked to Democrats at all about if that happens and if some of these Republicans voted to remove you as speaker — and it's this is not a hypothetical, it looks like this actually might happen — will Democrats vote to keep you as speaker?" asked Tapper.
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"I've not asked any Democrats to get involved in that," said Johnson. "I believe the House will do its will." He added, "We live in a very divided time and very divisive policy ticks and the age of social media, 24-hour news cycle, where everybody can express their opinions every moment of the day about things that are disgruntled about, it makes a lot of challenges. But we're going to get through this. Listen, we are the greatest nation in the history of the world, okay? We are going to show that we're going to keep the train on the tracks and not get derailed and get involved in all this at such a dangerous time on the world stage. And look ... I don't walk around thinking about the motion to vacate. It's a procedural matter here that I think has been abused in recent times. Maybe at some point we change that. But right now, I gotta do my job and so do all my colleagues and I'm confident in the end of the day, in spite of all the drama and all the palace intrigue, I think we're going to get that done."
"Well, whoever — I mean, if they bring the motion to vacate forward, there aren't enough Republicans, there aren't 218 or whatever Republicans," said Tapper. "Somebody's going to need Democrats ... if you win and keep your job, if there is a motion to vacate, it will be with Democratic support, or these people who are who rebelled against Kevin McCarthy and thought voting with Democrats was the worst thing in the world will also use Democratic votes."
"Jake, I don't know what's gonna happen," said Johnson. "I'm not focused on that. I'm focused on doing my job. Look, when you do the right thing, you let the chips fall where they may. I mean, that's that's how that's my life philosophy ... we tried to get the best possible outcome for the American people, to move the ball forward for the American people. And I've got to stay focused on that every day and not, not all the drama that's that's my answer."
Watch the video below or click here.
Jake Tapper confronts Mike Johnson about vacate motion www.youtube.com
Trump brags about Nobel Peace Prize nomination as he sits in courthouse
Donald Trump arrived at a New York courthouse for the start of his hush money trial Monday, making him the first-ever former president to face a criminal trial in the U.S.
He marked the occasion by taking to his Truth Social platform minutes after his arrival and reminding his followers that he was nominated for the Nobel Peace Prize earlier this year.
The trial comes after Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg accused Trump of falsifying business records to cover up a hush money payment to adult film star Stormy Daniels in an attempt to keep her quiet about a sexual encounter between the two before the 2016 election.
Trump has pleaded not guilty to the 34 charges in the case.
In a post to Truth Social, made as news reports swirled about his arrival at the courthouse, Trump shared images from news stories that broke on Jan. 30 this year, pointing out that a Republican congresswoman had put forward his name to be nominated for the Nobel Peace Prize.
Also read: 'He did say one thing that is accurate': CNN host undercuts Trump courthouse rant
New York Rep. Claudia Tenney said that Trump was "instrumental" in brokering the Abraham Accords, which were signed September 2020 between Israel and Bahrain and the United Arab Emirates and sought to normalize relations between the countries. In the following months, Morocco and Sudan signed a similar treaty.
"For decades, bureaucrats, foreign policy 'professionals', and international organizations insisted that additional Middle East peace agreements were impossible without a resolution to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. President Trump proved that to be false," Tenney told Fox News at the time.
"The valiant efforts by President Trump in creating the Abraham Accords were unprecedented and continue to go unrecognized by the Nobel Peace Prize Committee, underscoring the need for his nomination today," Tenney added.
