Shares in Trump’s Media Company Soar on Market Debut

Shares in Donald Trump’s media company have soared, as the firm makes its formal debut on the stock market.

Shares surged past US $70 each in opening trade, a price that gives the firm a market value of more than US $9 billion.

The long-awaited moment will inject more than US $200 million into Trump Media and Technology Group and hands the former president a stake worth more than US $5 billion.

Analysts say that is far more than warranted, given the performance of the business.

Trump Media operates Truth Social, a Twitter-like service that brought in just US $3.3 million in revenue in the first nine months of last year and lost nearly US $50 million.

It says 8.9 million accounts have been created since the platform launched to the general public in 2022 as an alternative to mainstream sites such as Facebook, but it is not clear how many are active.