Benzinga – by Chris Katje, Benzinga Staff Writer.
Donald Trump’s media company Trump Media & Technology Group (NASDAQ:DJT) hit the public market on Tuesday after a long-awaited SPAC merger was approved by shareholders.
Here’s a look at how the valuation of the company compares to recent valuation metrics for X, formerly known as Twitter.
What Happened: TMTG shares rocketed in their Wall Street debut. Investors looked to get a piece of the stock as a way to invest in former President Donald Trump.
While the full market capitalization of Trump Media & Technology Group is unknown until the final number of outstanding shares has been reported, estimates depict a large valuation for the social media company.
On Tuesday, the company had a listed market capitalization of $9.6 billion. By the end of the week, the market capitalization of the social media company was listed as between $7 billion and $8 billion.
Social media platform X was purchased by Elon Musk in 2022 for $44 billion. That amount is significantly more than what Trump’s media company is worth now.
Existing shareholders of X have been discounting their stakes and marking the valuation down.
In the most recent report from Fidelity, which owns X shares in the Fidelity Blue Chip Growth Fund (FBGRX) mutual fund, the valuation of the social media company was at a 68% discount. This values X at around $14.1 billion.
Fidelity and other shareholders of X have marked down their stakes in the Musk-owned company since the acquisition.
This means that based on an $8-billion valuation for TMTG, X would be worth around 1.8x more. X has a significantly higher number of users and revenue.
As Benzinga recently reported, TMTG shares trade at huge valuations compared to the number of users it has and its annual revenue. Estimates from Bloomberg show TMTG trading at 2,800 times its annual revenue.
In comparison, Twitter had revenue of $5.22 billion in 2022, making the $44-billion purchase price at the time done at around 8.4x annual revenue.
Related Link: Investor Who Once Backed Short Selling Ban Considers Bet Against Trump Media: ‘Biggest Pump And Dump Stock In History’
What’s Next: Investors and analysts have cautioned that the valuation of TMTG is incredibly high on any metric and could move lower in the future.
Investors looking to bet against the company face a high borrow cost to short shares. Recent mentions of TMTG as a meme stock could see the stock trade with no concern for valuation by traders in the short-term.
As for X, Musk has said he aims to make the platform an “everything” app with social media, video, payments and other features.
Musk previously said the potential value of X will be $250 billion or more in the future. And Fidelity, he says, “will make a great return in the end.”
Time will tell if Musk is right — and whether Trump Media & Technology Group shareholders also make a great return on their investment.
DJT Price Action: Trump Media & Technology Group shares closed down 6% to $61.96 on Thursday versus a 52-week trading range of $12.40 to $79.38, which counts the stock’s time as DJT and also the SPAC Digital World Acquisition Corporation.
Read Next: Bad Buyout Blues: Banks Ready To Refinance Twitter/X Debt From $44-Billion Acquisition
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