Tag: fox business
Is Trump Media A 'Pump And Dump' Scheme? Fox News And Fox Business Disagree

Is Trump Media A 'Pump And Dump' Scheme? Fox News And Fox Business Disagree

Sister channels Fox News Channel and Fox Business Network are usually singing from the same sheet of music when covering the news of the day, in particular as it relates to reporting about their longtime ally and political patron Donald Trump.

Today, however, the two networks deviated markedly during their daytime coverage of the ballooning stock valuation for Trump’s media company, which completed a merger deal last week.

Disgraced former President Donald Trump has enjoyed a financial windfall over the past day. Late Monday morning, a court in New York significantly reduced the bond he owes the state as he appeals a $454 million civil fraud judgment against him, while also extending Trump an additional 10-day grace period to secure a new bond. In response to the news, share prices for Digital World Acquisition Corp., the shell company that just completed its merger with Trump Media & Technology Group (the company that owns Truth Social), surged by the close of trading.

Share prices for Trump’s new company continued climbing Tuesday. At one point, Trump Media shares traded for double what they went for last week, spurring numerous financial publications and business reporters to label the company a “meme stock” — a company whose stock price is driven by viral popularity and thus can be prone to an eventual collapse. Industry experts warned that the stock value is “untethered to its underlying business results” and that there was “no way” the current market price represents “a rational valuation for this company.”

None of these glaring red flags about Trump’s overvalued company were enough to dissuade the cast of characters at Fox News’ Outnumbered from basking in Trump’s good fortune.

After showing critiques of Trump's company that aired on cable rivals CNBC and MSNBC, the Fox team mocked Trump’s critics and celebrated his stock’s performance.

Guest co-host Marc Siegel specifically took umbrage with a description of Trump’s new venture as a “pump and dump” scheme, arguing, “That would mean, by the way, that you deliberately pump up the stock in order to sell a bunch of it off,” but “that’s not what’s happening here.”

According to Siegel, this stock price run-up represents “a real excitement” for “an alternative to the — to one-dimensional media.”

At almost the exact same moment that Siegel was singing Trump Media’s praises on Fox News, Fox Business correspondent Charles Gasparino was throwing cold water at would-be investors, specifically warning that Trump might treat the company as a pump-and-dump scheme.

During an appearance on Cavuto: Coast to Coast, Gasparino first explained that Trump could not sell his shares in the company without “dramatically” undermining the stock’s value and opening the company up to shareholder lawsuits.

He then declaratively warned viewers against investing in the stock at this price, comparing Trump Media to previous meme stocks that were “bid up by irrational exuberance” like AMC, GameStop, and Bed Bath & Beyond, and pointing out that Trump’s social media enterprise has just “one fraction of the users” and revenue of a competitor like Twitter, which notoriously struggled to make money.

Gasparino also took aim at so-called “pumpers” who would recommend purchasing a “meme stock” like this one, saying such a person is “probably a fraud.”

Gasparino warned that “six months from now, [Trump] can just dump all of his shares,” before predicting, “I bet you he dumps a chunk of it.”

Gasparino followed his prediction with a warning that investing in the company should be “scary stuff for the average person.”

He then concluded the segment by again predicting, “I just don’t see him holding on to the stock when he can sell it,” adding, “He knows this thing isn’t making any money.”

Gasparino was not the only Fox Business personality to warn viewers about the underlying fundamentals of Trump’s media venture.

During the next hour, on Fox Business’ The Big Money Show, correspondent Kelly O’Grady explained that analysts say Trump’s company boasted share prices that don’t “represent the underlying business.”

After O’Grady’s segment concluded, co-host Taylor Riggs asked investment analyst Lou Basenese if Trump’s company was “another meme stock that’s divorced from fundamentals,” to which he responded, “Yes, yes, and yes.”

As it turned out, skeptics like Gasparino were right to be worried about the volatile valuation Trump Media was sitting on in the middle of the trading session. After peaking at around $79 per share Tuesday morning, the stock closed at $57.99, a roughly 26 percent intraday decline. Earlier investors, like Trump, still saw their portfolios grow as the stock closed higher than in the days before, but the “average” person drawn to the meme stock today probably lost money.

Reprinted with permission from Media Matters.

Fox Business Puts Trish Regan On Hiatus After Coronavirus Rant

Fox Business Puts Trish Regan On Hiatus After Coronavirus Rant

Reprinted with permission from MediaMatters.

On Monday, March 9, Trish Regan opened her Fox Business show by complaining about the “Coronavirus impeachment scam.” Her deranged monologue received widespread ridicule after a tweet by Media Matters’ Andrew Lawrence that has been viewed millions of times.

On Friday, March 13, Bloomberg News reported that Regan’s 8 p.m. show, Trish Regan Primetime, was being put on hiatus.

“Fox Business’s prime-time programs Trish Regan Primetime and Kennedy will both be on hiatus until further notice,” Fox said in a statement. “Due to the demands of the evolving pandemic crisis coverage, we are deploying all resources from both shows for staffing needs during critical market hours. Fox Business will run long form programming in prime time for the foreseeable future.”

Regan acknowledged the move:

Fox Business’s Kennedy, hosted by Lisa “Kennedy” Montgomery, was also put on hiatus.

Before this monologue calling a deadly global pandemic a “scam,” Regan was known for over-the-top pro-Trump rhetoric and for being the first interview that top Trump adviser Stephen Miller gave after his emails revealed an affinity for racist rhetoric and white nationalist conspiracy theories.

Lest anyone get the wrong idea here, there is plenty of awful coronavirus coverage on Fox that has not led to any consequences.

In 2019, Fox Affiliates Have Gotten 92% Of Trump’s Televised Interviews

In 2019, Fox Affiliates Have Gotten 92% Of Trump’s Televised Interviews

In mid-March, President Donald Trump used Twitter to pressure Fox News to bring back suspended host Jeanine Pirro and lash out at three Fox anchors. Since then, Trump has given interviews to Fox Business and Fox News seven times. So far in 2019, 92 percent of all of his nationally televised interviews have been on Fox channels, with nearly two-thirds of them occurring after he lashed out on Twitter.

On March 17, Trump took a shot at three Fox News anchors complaining about their coverage and saying they should move to CNN. The same day, Trump vociferously defended and lobbied for Pirro, one of his biggest sycophants, who had been suspended for making anti-Muslim comments about Rep. Ilhan Omar (D-MN). (Pirro returned to the channel after two weeks.) The drama was nonetheless enough to make headlines, with one article’s title asking, “Is Trump changing his tune on Fox News?”

The short answer is no.

Trump’s tendency to favor Fox channels for interviews has increased dramatically in 2019. So far this year, 11 out of 12 of the president’s national TV interviews have been on Fox News or Fox Business, an increase from 2017-2018 when 67 percent were given to Fox-affiliated channels. Since lashing out on March 17, Trump has given seven interviews to Fox News or Fox Business.

Notably, in a one-week period from April 25 through May 2, Trump gave four interviews to Fox. At no other point in his presidency has Trump done so many Fox interviews in such a short time frame.

Five days after the March 17 Twitter spat, Trump sat for an interview with Fox Business’ Maria Bartiromo. Trump promoted the interview multiple times on his Twitter feed and has since done another interview with her on April 28 that The Washington Post described as “so friendly that [Trump] wouldn’t stop talking.”

Trump has also done two interviews with host Sean Hannity on March 27 and April 25. The one on April 25 was a lengthy call-in interview described as a “rambling” — a 45-minute rant so friendly that, as The Atlantic’s Conor Friedersdorf put it, the term softball doesn’t even apply and “T-ball is closer to the mark.”

The president also rewarded Trish Regan on Fox Business and Catherine Herridge and Griff Jenkins on Fox News with interviews.

Trump also promotes Fox News, a Fox personality, or a Fox show almost daily on Twitter. From March 24 — when Attorney General William Barr sent his letter to Congress about special counsel Robert Mueller’s report on the Trump-Russia investigation — to April 29, 43 percent of Trump’s tweets about Mueller referenced Fox in some manner.

Although Trump has lobbed the occasional criticism at Fox, especially when he perceives its coverage to be critical of him, he’s also been its biggest cheerleader — whether by sitting down for interviews, calling into shows, telling people to tune in to Fox News, or simply tweeting about some of the more sycophantic hosts and shows. His message is clear: Stay loyal to the president, or he’ll lash out.

#EndorseThis: Fox Host Cavuto Shaken By Trump’s Nuclear Tweeting

#EndorseThis: Fox Host Cavuto Shaken By Trump’s Nuclear Tweeting

At Fox Business Channel, the dominant attitude toward Donald Trump is bullish and often slavish –but the president-elect’s latest crazy tweet on the supposed need to “expand” the U.S. nuclear arsenal seems to frighten even the Fox gang — or at least Neal Cavuto.

“I’m thinking this out,” Cavuto told his fellow anchor Stuart Varney, one of the billionaire’s most obsequious fans. “Let’s say we get to Dow 20,000, so we’re all richer for it. But Donald Trump also promises more nukes, so we’re all blown up just as we’re counting our money.”

Although Cavuto looks worried he may have been joking, but his remarks certainly irritated Varney. “What? Have you become some kind of leftist all of a sudden?” In Varney’s mind, only leftists are apprehensive about a renewed nuclear arms race and the inherent danger of atomic holocaust.

Cavuto is no liberal, of course, let alone a “leftist.” His sudden expression of fear suggests that the enormity of electing a clueless clown like Trump to the presidency is beginning to dawn on him. Too late, Neal.

(h/t Raw Story)