Ever since the parent company of former President Donald Trump's Truth Social platform went public on the Nasdaq Composite in late March, its share price has gone steadily downhill. And in a recent interview, billionaire investor Barry Diller slammed both the stock and its buyers.
After the rollout of its initial public offering (IPO), the Trump Media and Technology Group stock — trading as $DJT — traded for nearly $70 per share. However, it's since dropped to less than $50 per share, losing approximately $4 billion in value. And doesn't appear to be rebounding anytime soon. Diller told CNBC that he viewed $DJT as a "scam," and the people investing in it as "dopes."
"I mean, it's ridiculous. The company has no revenue," Diller said on Squawk Box. "It’s a scam, just like everything he’s ever been involved in is some sort of con."
READ MORE: Trump sues his Truth Social business partners after stock loses $4 billion in first week of trading
Diller, who is the chairman of Expedia Group and has a net worth in excess of $4 billion, elaborated that he felt $DJT was more of a "meme stock" inexperienced traders tend to buy on a whim than a real investment, likening it to previous meme stocks like Gamestop and AMC. CNBC noted that while Gamestop reached highs of more than $500 per share in 2021, it has since dropped to just $12 per share. AMC's share price is also hovering around the $3 mark, though it traded for more than $200 per share in the summer of 2021.
"I think they’re dopes," Diller said of the people trading the company's stock. "I mean, who would buy a company that literally, what does it have, $30 of revenue? Who could put a value on that?"
"It's stupid. Stupid stuff," Diller added.
In response to Diller's remarks, a spokesperson for Trump Media and Technology Group said it was "unsurprising to see die-hard Trump haters and leftwing flacks blow a gasket."
READ MORE: 'No legitimate business purpose': Trump sued by Truth Social business partners
$DJT's nosedive began after a regulatory filing revealed it needed funding from the special purpose acquisition company (SPAC) it merged with in order to remain operational. That filing also showed that Truth Social had more than $53 million in losses in 2023, which may have been what provoked early investors to sell.
Following its poor performance last week, Trump sued his business partners, Andy Litinsky and Wes Moss, who helped the company go public through the SPAC. He accused them of mishandling the merger and botching the setup of the corporate governance structure. That suit came after Litinsky and Moss sued Trump in Delaware Chancery Court, alleging he engaged in a scheme to "drastically" dilute the value of their stake in the company by artificially increasing the number of shares to one billion. That would have reduced their stake in the company from 8.6% to less than 1%.
The last time Trump took a company public was in the 1990s. His Trump Hotels and Casino Resorts stock traded at a high of $35 per share before cratering and becoming a penny stock in less than a decade.
READ MORE: Here's what happened the last time Trump tried to take one of his companies public
