U.S. Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene made a big-money bet on former President Donald Trump’s putative new social media empire — but the investment looks like a flop.
The fire-breathing Republican lawmaker from Georgia bought up to $50,000 worth of stock in the shell company that is facilitating the Trump Media & Technology Group’s plans to raise money from investors.
The stock soared up to 17 times its previous value after announcing its Trump plan last week. But it fell sharply after hitting that peak and shed about two-thirds of its value at its high watermark.
Taylor Greene bought the stock on Friday, the day the company called Digital World Acquisition Corp. continued its spectacular rise and started its downward spiral, according to Congress Trading, which tracks lawmakers’ financial disclosures. It traded in a head-spinning range from $67.96 and $175 a share that day.
The staunch supporter of Trump didn’t have to disclose the price she paid for the stock, making it impossible to tell how much red ink she is gulping down.
But the stock was trading late Wednesday at below $67 a share, making it a break-even proposition at the very best and almost certainly a loss on paper for Taylor Greene.
Trump boasted that the company would end the “tyranny of Big Tech” by setting up an alternative to social media platforms like Twitter and Facebook that banned him.
He also says it will come up with cloud computing and payment systems to challenge giants Amazon and Google, among others.
Analysts are skeptical about the new company’s prospects, especially given that it provided no financial details in the announcement that was heavy on right-wing political talking points.
Trump has left a trail of disappointed investors in his many ventures over the year including his casino company that declared bankruptcy several times.
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