An investment company formed by two former contestants on “The Apprentice” TV show sold almost all of their 5.5 percent stake in former President Donald J. Trump’s social media company, according to a regulatory filing on Thursday.
United Atlantic Ventures sold roughly 7.5 million shares of Trump Media & Technology Group within the past few days, after a lockup provision that had barred large investors, including Mr. Trump, from selling any shares ended on Sept. 19.
The two principals of United Atlantic, Andy Litinsky and Wes Moss, were founders of Trump Media and its flagship social media product, Truth Social. They were both contestants on the second season of “The Apprentice,” the reality TV show that helped raised Mr. Trump’s national profile before he ran for president in 2016.
At the stock’s current price of about $14 a share, the two men’s entire equity stake was worth roughly $100 million.
The lockup restricting the sale of shares also applied to Mr. Trump, but the former president said days before the restriction ended that he had no plans to sell any of his 115 million shares. His nearly 60 percent stake in Trump Media has lost billions of dollars in value in the past few months, and is currently worth $1.6 billion.
Since the lockup expired, trading in Trump Media has been heavier than normal, and the stock price has fallen nearly 5 percent over that time. Overall, the stock is down 78 percent since the company’s merger in March with a cash-rich special purpose acquisition company.
Both Mr. Litinsky and Mr. Moss were “fired” by Mr. Trump from the show, but Mr. Litinsky later went to work for Mr. Trump as the head of his television production company.
Shortly after Mr. Trump left the White House in 2021, Mr. Litinsky and Mr. Moss approached him with the idea of founding his own social media company. The idea appealed to Mr. Trump because he had been banned from most social media platforms after the riot by his supporters at the Capital on Jan. 6, 2021.
They agreed to work together to form Trump Media and introduce Truth Social, a platform that has become Mr. Trump’s main online megaphone as he runs again for president.
But within a year of Truth Social’s debut, Mr. Trump had a falling out with Mr. Litinsky and Mr. Moss.
Trump Media argued in a lawsuit this year that the two men were not entitled to so many shares in the company because they had done a poor job, delaying the company’s arrival on public markets.
But the two prevailed and got their full allotment. According to Thursday’s filing, which listed Mr. Litinsky as a managing member of United Atlantic, the investment firm retains only 100 of the 7,525,000 shares of Trump Media it originally held.
Read More: Andy Litinsky and Wes Moss Have Unloaded Their Trump Media Stock