Two of the original co-founders of Donald Trump’s Truth Social platform have cashed out their stock amid an ongoing feud with the former president.
According to a regulatory disclosure published by Trump Media and Technology Group (TMTG) on Thursday, an investment vehicle controlled by Andrew Litinsky and Wesley Moss liquidated the bulk of its nearly 7.53 million shares that would currently be worth roughly $100 million based on the stock’s last closing price.
“As of the date of this filing, United Atlantic Ventures LLC owns 100 shares,” the statement said.
Litinsky and Moss do serve in any official capacity for the company, neither as officers nor directors. From a regulatory point of view they are not considered insiders but rather passive investors not privy to material non-public information. Their selling stock should therefor not be considered a signal of problems outsiders are not already aware of.
The duo first met Trump as contestants on Season 2 of Trump’s TV reality show The Apprentice, which aired 20 years ago. After Trump was banned from Twitter for inciting the Jan. 6 Capitol riots, they convinced the former president to found his own social media platform and agreed to give him a majority stake.
When Trump’s media group went public in late March—trading under Trump’s initials as its ticker symbol—UAV owned 5.5% of the listed company.
But shortly thereafter, relations between the two parties soured. Litinsky and Moss went on to sue the company, feeling they were being shortchanged, while TMTG countersued claiming they had bungled the rollout of Truth Social.
According to the filing, UAV’s stake had dwindled to less than 3.8% of the outstanding stock by mid-August amid further share issues that diluted their holding.
Stock overhang fears
UAV did not reveal when precisely the sale was made and whether it occurred over the period of more than one trading session. Typically, however, 13G disclosures like this one made by passive shareholders with significant stakes grant some leeway, with a filing required within five business days of the transaction.
But UAV was subject to a lockup period barring any sale prior to Sept. 19. That puts it in a likely price range somewhere between $12-$15 for each share.
While major stakeholders liquidating their investment wouldn’t normally be confidence-building, the market was well aware of ongoing feud between Litinsky and Moss and the company. Earlier this month UAV won a lawsuit requiring Odyssey Transfer and Trust, a custodian of the shares held in escrow, to release its 7.53 million shares as soon as the lockup expired last Thursday.
With Litinsky and Moss cashed out, some of the uncertainty hanging over the company should be removed as their shares have now been fully absorbed by the market.
While TMTG's future remains a concern, the bigger immediate fear for investors has been the potential sale of stock by the former president, who owns nearly 115 million shares representing some 57% of the company.
Despite recent assertions from the former president that has no intention of selling, stock in TMTG crashed to an all-time low on Tuesday amid suspicion that Trump’s mounting legal costs mean he may yet be forced to convert a portion of his stake into cash.
So far there has been no evidence he has. Instead, Trump has taken to lending his personal name to a wide range of branded merchandise he's selling, ranging from sneakers to bibles and silver coins. On Thursday he revealed his latest product, diamond-encrusted wrist watches that retail for as much as $100,000 each.
TMTG did not respond to a request from Fortune for comment.
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