Newsmax Stock Booms Day After Massive IPO — Making Network Founder an Overnight Billionaire
Bloomberg radio host Lisa Mateo marveled at Newsmax’s stunning stock price jump on Tuesday morning following the pro-Trump cable network’s booming IPO on Monday.
The network sold $75 million worth of shares for $10 each in Monday’s initial public offering, which saw the stock close at a whopping $83.51. The massive haul made Newsmax founder and CEO Christopher Ruddy an overnight billionaire.
“Ruddy’s 39.2 million class A shares, owned through a revocable trust, have 10 votes each, giving him control of 81% of the company’s votes. He didn’t sell any shares in the New York Stock Exchange offering,” reported Bloomberg News on Monday night, noting that Ruddy ended the day with some $3.3 billion in stock after the share price jumped 735%. CNBC reported that on Tuesday morning, the stock jumped another 100%.
“I want to start with Newsmax because the stock’s still extending its gains. This is after a jump of 735%. They had its IPO debut Monday, NMAX, that’s a ticker, N-M-A-X. They raised $75 million in the offering. Their share price gives the company a market value of more than $10.7 billion, and it was actually among the 25 most actively traded on Fidelity’s platform,” reported Mateo on Tuesday morning as the stock price jumped as high as $191.
“But what’s really interesting, the founder, Christopher Ruddy, he’s now a billionaire. He’s sitting on $3.3 billion fortune. And the news network actually lost 72 million in 2024. That was on revenue of about 171 million, but shares are still on the rise this morning,” Mateo added, noting the Newsmax’s financials are not stellar.
One of Mateo’s co-hosts asked if this is a “meme thing.”
She quickly replied, “No,” and added, “In the article, they were saying it seemed like that. It seemed like the whole GameStop– kind of exploded. But its shares are still higher right now.”
As of midday Tuesday, Newsmax stock was trading above $140, ballooning Ruddy’s network well above $5 billion.
Watch the clip above via Bloomberg.
