SAN FRANCISCO (AP) — Donald Trump is suing two co-founders of Trump Media & Technology Group, the newly public parent company of his Truth Social platform, arguing that they should forfeit their stock in the company because they set it up improperly.
The former U.S. president’s lawsuit, which was filed on March 24 in Florida state court, follows a complaint filed in February by those co-founders, Andy Litinsky and Wes Moss.
Their lawsuit sought to prevent Trump from taking steps the two said would sharply reduce their combined 8.6% stake in Trump Media. The pair filed their lawsuit in the Delaware Court of Chancery.
Trump’s lawsuit claims that Litinsky and Moss, who were both contestants on Trump’s reality-TV show “The Apprentice,” mishandled an attempt to take Trump Media public several years ago, allegedly putting the whole project “on ice” for more than a year and a half.
But it also targets the pair over their Delaware suit against Trump, saying that it was one of several attempts they made to block Trump Media’s ultimately successful plan to go public. Trump Media accomplished that goal by merging with a publicly traded shell company called Digital World Acquisition in March.
Trump Media shares have fluctuated wildly since its stock market debut. On Tuesday, the stock closed at $51.60, up 6%, valuing the entire company at $5.9 billion.
On Monday, though, the fledgling media business has lost some sheen among investors a week after going public, with a sharp reversal in the company’s stock price lopping $3.8 billion off its value.
Monday’s plunge in Trump Media & Technology Group’s shares, which debuted on the Nasdaq Composite Index on March 25 under the ticker “DJT” (after the former president’s initials), comes as it disclosed mounting losses in a regulatory filing. The company also noted that its accountant had issued a warning that its losses “raise substantial doubt about its ability to continue as a going concern.”
