Former President Donald J. Trump said on Friday he would not be selling any shares in his social media company when a measure that has prevented him from selling the stock lifts next week.
Mr. Trump’s comment prompted a surge in trading in shares of Trump Media & Technology Group, raising the stock price by nearly 12 percent. Mr. Trump’s remarks, at an afternoon news conference, ended weeks of speculation over whether he would try to cash in his 57 percent stake in the company, which owns his social media platform Truth Social.
“No, I am not selling,” Mr. Trump said. He said of Truth Social: “I love it. I use it as a method of getting out my word.”
A number of people on Truth Social quickly posted video clips of Mr. Trump’s remarks about the social media platform, which has emerged as his main online outlet for going after his critics. Mr. Trump is not an officer in the company but is Truth Social’s main attraction.
“I don’t want to sell my shares,” he said. “I don’t need money.”
A six-month lockup provision, which took effect after Trump Media made its Wall Street debut in March, has prevented Mr. Trump from selling his shares, or even posting his shares as collateral for a loan. That lockup is scheduled to end on Thursday.
Mr. Trump is Trump Media’s largest shareholder, owning some 115 million shares. His stake is worth about $2 billion on paper.
The sale restriction also applies to other large shareholders, who control about 20 million shares, and they too will be free to sell on Thursday.
Trump Media shares have fallen about 73 percent from a high of $66.22, set just days after the company’s merger with Digital World Acquisition Group, a cash-rich special purpose acquisition company. Now trading at $17.97, the stock is slightly above the Jan. 2 price of Digital World shares, months before the merger.
The decline in the price of the stock accelerated this summer after Vice President Kamala Harris replaced President Biden as the Democratic nominee for president. And the rapid plunge in Trump’s Media’s stock has eaten into the value of Mr. Trump’s holding — reducing his paper wealth by some $4 billion.
But short sellers — bearish investors who wager on a stock falling in price — have been rejoicing the past few weeks. It is estimated that investors shorting Trump Media shares have generated $232.7 million in paper profits since mid-July, according to S3 Partners, a stock research firm.