Trump Media stock surges after ex-president says he's 'not selling'

Shares of Trump Media surged Friday after majority owner Donald Trump said he is not selling his stake.

“I have absolutely no intention of selling,” said the Republican presidential nominee, who will be free to start cashing in his nearly 57% stake in less than a week when a lockup agreement expires.

Trading in the stock was halted briefly Friday afternoon after Trump’s comments to the press at his golf club in California.

Trump said that Truth Social, the Twitter-like social media platform owned by Trump Media, is “great for me.”

And he blamed the Securities and Exchange Commission for Trump Media’s monthslong stock slump, which had driven shares down by more than 80% from their intraday peak after the company began trading on the Nasdaq in late March.

Trump noted Friday that his stake is still worth more than $1 billion.

“But I don’t want to sell my shares. I’m not going to sell my shares,” he said.

“I didn’t do it for the money. I did it because I really wanted to have a strong voice, and it’s a great voice for me,” he said. “And as long as my voice is on there, it’s going to always be good.”

He also noted, “A lot of people think the reason it’s down, is that a lot of people think I’m going to sell and if I sell, it wouldn’t be the same.”