A Newsmax Steam television crew closes a backdrop during the conservative political action conference (CPAC) at National Harbor, Maryland, on Saturday February 24, 2024.
Tom Brenner | The Washington Post | The Washington Post | Getty images
Shares of the conservative cable chain Newsmax climbed almost 180% on Tuesday, a day after The dizzying beginnings of the stock on the New York Stock Exchange.
Newsmax shares have increased by more than 1,500% since its beginnings on Monday when it opened at $ 14 per share. He closed $ 233 per share on Tuesday.
Flood -soaked shares have not only brought the company's market capitalization to nearly $ 30 billion – exceeding the market capitalization of media companies inherited as Discovery Warner Bros. And Fox Corp – He also supported the yields of his investors.
The IPOs on traditional media are difficult to find, in particular given the important changes in business models of companies in recent years, and the Newsmax meteoric beginnings were unexpected. The highly anticipated stock beginning of Core Friday – the greater technological stock market Since 2021 and the first pure -game artificial intelligence offer – has seen a temperate Start in comparison.
The founder and CEO Christopher Ruddy, who holds around 39.2 million class A shares of the company and 81.4% of voting shares, joined the billionaire ranks after the initial public offer. At the end of the market, Ruddy's participation was worth more than $ 9 billion.
The founder and billionaire of interactive brokers Thomas Peterffy is the second shareholder in Newsmax with 23 million shares – worth more than $ 5 billion on Tuesday – held by a limited liability company, Conyers Investments.
Peterffy has invested $ 50 million in Newsmax in 2019, according to a person familiar with the agreement. He refused to comment on his investment at CNBC. Peterffy has already appeared on Newsmax and is an eminent GOP donor.
Tuesday, Newsmax sent an e-mail to investors highlighting its increase in stocks on the day of the opening of trading.
“Americans have been voting for a long time with their remote controls, downloads, applications to say that they want Newsmax. Now, investors are just buying Newsmax actions because they love us, they appreciate us and they want us to continue to grow,” said Ruddy in a press release at CNBC.
Rising red tide
The Fox Newsmax television studios are seen in the FERV Forum the day before the start of the National Republican Convention, Milwaukee, Wisconsin, July 14, 2024.
Joe Raedle | Getty Images News | Getty images
Newsmax, which launched its wired right network in 2014, gained ground during the president Donald TrumpThe second mandate and is the fourth cable news channel the most watched after Fox News, MSNBC and CNN, according to Nielsen.
Ruddy said on Monday that Newsmax had republican and democratic legislators as contributors and viewers. “We think we are conservative with an independent news mission, and we ask difficult questions to the Trump administration.”
Last week, Ruddy posted on X that he had received a call from Trump, adding “I shared with Potus my new saying:” A Rising Trump raises all boats! “”
“This shows that it continues to be a financial support for everything Maga. There is room for a multiplicity of voices on the right in a way that we have not seen emerging on the left,” said Jonathan Miller, a former senior manager Corp. Who is currently CEO of Media Integrated, who specializes in digital media investments.
Newsmax went from digital media to a wired chain because Ruddy saw the opportunity to seize Fox News market share, he told CNBC “Squawk Box” on Monday.
However, his viewer pale compared to the dominant conservative chain Fox.
Between December 30 and March 20, Newsmax had an average of 309,000 viewers during grande hours and 211,000 daytime viewers, according to Nielsen Data. Fox News attracted an average of almost 3.1 million viewers during great listening hours and approximately 2 million diurnal viewers during the same period.
Tuesday negotiations continued an astonishing increase for the pure cable television stock. Even if the news and live sports have entered the most public, the industry has suffered in recent years when consumers are fuishing cable bundles in favor of streaming.
“We hate the bundle. The package is terrible for the cable industry. It is terrible for consumers,” said Ruddy on Monday, referring to the traditional paid paquet of a multitude of channels that once dominated the industry.
Despite the fact of remaining profitable and to miss species for media companies, the bundle has lost subscribers to a fast clip while consumers opt for cheaper streaming options rather than the notoriously expensive channel package.
Ruddy pointed out in his comments, noting that consumers who want access to networks like ESPN – who capture most of viewers, and in turn, higher costs – are always blocked for a pack of canals that they may not want or need.
Newsmax has started to receive paid television distributors in recent years to transport your network after mainly receiving advertising revenues to support the company during its construction.
Ruddy said on Monday that Newsmax fees had increased. He added that Newsmax is also available in streaming and has podcasts – offers typical of all media companies currently.
– Hayley Cuccinello of CNBC contributed to this article.
Disclosure: NBCUNIVERSAL is the parent company of MSNBC and CNBC.
