Newsmax Shares Surge 500% in IPO Debut

Newsmax, the right-leaning cable news outlet, is enjoying a big debut on Wall Street on Monday, with its share price surging more than 500% above its initial public offering price.

Shares of Newsmax started trading for $14 per share on Monday morning — above its $10 IPO price — and quickly ran from there.

The outlet’s stock was halted six times in the first three hours of trading, as excited investors looked to grab shares of the Trump-friendly outlet. By midday trading, Newsmax was going for $61.52 per share — up 515.20%. Newsmax is trading under the NMAX symbol on the New York Stock Exchange.

Newsmax is home to former Fox News host Greta Van Susteren, who hosts her show weekdays at 6:00 p.m. ET, as well as anchors Rob Schmitt and Rob Finnerty; Schmitt’s weeknight show averaged 520,000 viewers in February, making it Newsmax’s top-rated show for the month. He recently interviewed Elon Musk at CPAC.

The media company, beyond its Newsmax channel, also runs its Newsmax.com website, has a free streaming channel called Newsmax2 and also offers a subscription service, Newsmax+, for $4.99 per month. Newsmax was founded by CEO Chris Ruddy in 1998 and is based in Boca Raton, Florida. On its social platforms, Newsmax says it has about 20 million followers.

Newsmax was looking to raise $75 million by selling 7.5 million Class B shares, Seeking Alpha reported; investors had to buy at least $500 worth of shares to meet its minimum requirement. Ruddy retains more than 80% of voting power following the IPO due to the dual-class share structure.

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