(WASHINGTON) — Shares in Donald Trump’s social media company sank in morning trading on Wednesday, a day after the company filed paperwork with the Securities and Exchange Commission that could allow the president’s trust to sell more than $2 billion of shares.
Trump Media and Technology Group filed a registration with the SEC on Tuesday that would open the door for the president’s trust to sell up to nearly 115 million shares, which are worth more than $2.3 billion.
The filing does not guarantee the sale of the shares nor provide any information about a future sale. Since Trump took office, he transferred his stake of the company into the Donald J. Trump Revocable Trust, which is controlled by his son, Donald Trump Jr.
A sell-off from Trump, the company’s largest individual shareholder, could panic investors and damage the company’s stock price.
As of midday Wednesday, the company’s stock price was down about 5%.
Trump Media and Technology Group pushed back on the possibility that Trump may attempt to sell any shares in a statement on Wednesday.
“Legacy media outlets are spreading a fake story suggesting that a TMTG filing today is paving the way for the Trump trust to sell its shares in TMTG. To be clear, these shares were already registered last June on an S-1 form, and today TMTG submitted a routine filing that re-registers them on an S-3 form in order to keep the Company’s filings effective. In fact, there currently is no open window for any affiliate to sell shares,” the statement said.
The president also has previously said he plans to hold his stake in the company.
“I don’t want to sell my shares. I don’t need money,” Trump told reporters in September.
The SEC filing effectively puts investors on notice about millions of shares that could be sold on the open market, finance experts told ABC News.
The filing provides updated information about Trump’s majority stake in the company and flags the possibility of an additional 8 million shares hitting the open market, according to University of Florida finance professor Jay Ritter, who described the filing as a requirement if the company insiders attempted to sell off their shares.
“In this offering it says the Trump trust could sell shares — it doesn’t necessarily mean that they will,” Seth Goldstein, an analyst at research firm Morningstar, told ABC News. “It signals to the market that they could.”
“This leaves it up in the air if and when a share sale will happen,” Goldstein added.
Some insiders have been able to sell shares at a profit, taking advantage of the company’s high stock price.
“Trump Media has been pretty unsuccessful at creating an operating business model, but they have been quite successful at selling their stock,” Ritter said.
According to Ritter, a sell-off by company insiders like Trump could “really tank the share price” by signaling declining confidence in the company’s business model.
“The sale of the Resale Securities being offered pursuant to this prospectus, or the perception that these sales could occur, could result in a significant decline in the public trading price of our Common Stock,” the filing said.
ABC News’ Max Zahn contributed to this report.
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