Newsmax's stock broke records for initial public offerings in its first week of trading, becoming the first Regulation A+ offering to go directly to the NYSE's Big Board – while captivating the markets with a dizzying valuation.
After trading began Monday just before 11 a.m. ET, Newsmax (NMAX) soon found itself with a share price of $44.30 and a market capitalization of $4.18 billion.
The New York Times marveled that Newsmax's spectacular rise briefly put it at a richer valuation than U.S. Steel.
Driving the surge, the Times noted, is Newsmax's "reliably conservative programming, with anchors including Greg Kelly, a former Fox News host, and Michael Savage" — and the media outlet's airing on "most major cable and satellite providers, including DirectTV, Dish, Comcast, Charter and Verizon."
"Newsmax Stock Skyrockets in Roaring Market Debut," splashed The Wall Street Journal headline, noting that on its first day, "trading was halted multiple times due to volatility."
"The Newsmax IPO was one for the record books" and "Newsmax made history," reported Marketwatch, which once called Newsmax CEO Chris Ruddy "the right's great online ally."
"Data from FactSet show the second-day performance of Newsmax, when it surged 179%, was one of the strongest ever for a new listing," Marketwatch said.
NMAX "soared spectacularly … skyrocketed," Barrons said, likening the stock's meteoric rise to the dot-com internet mania of the turn of the 21st century — as well as to "the fervor surrounding the March 2024 Wall Street debut of Trump Media & Technology Group, the company that runs the Truth Social site and app."
Newsmax got some strong moral support from Britain's Financial Times (FT), which reported that it had not only a credible business model, but was savvy in seeking profits from legacy cable and the emerging streaming market.
The FT sees Newsmax's rise paralleling the rise of President Donald Trump, whose own prospects have long been discounted by the major media.
But the FT sees Newsmax as "one of the most interesting entrepreneurial bets of the Trump era."
The secret of its success?
"... Billionaire founder Christopher Ruddy is simply wagering that even a dying industry can support a new entrant, if it produces content people want," the FT stated.
Importantly, CNBC reported, "Traditional media IPOs are hard to come by — especially given the significant changes to companies' business models in recent years, and Newsmax's meteoric debut was unexpected."
CNBC went on to quote Ruddy's "Squawk Box" TV appearance when he explained the public's immense thirst for Newsmax's conservative content across multiple access points.
"Americans for a long time have been voting with their remote controls, downloads, apps, to say they want Newsmax," Ruddy told CNBC. "Now investors powerfully are buying Newsmax shares because they like us, they value us, and they want us to keep growing."
Newsmax is the fourth-most watched cable news channel after Fox News, MSNBC and CNN, according to Nielsen.
Ruddy said Newsmax has both Republican and Democrat viewers and contributors: "We believe we're conservative with an independent news mission, and we ask tough questions of the Trump administration."
Jonathan Miller, a former News Corp. executive who is now CEO of Integrated Media, said, "This shows there continues to be financial support for all things MAGA. There is room for a multiplicity of voices on the right in a way we haven't seen emerge on the left."
Bucking the Market Collapse
Not only did NMAX surge, but it did so as Trump unveiled his reciprocal tariffs, wiping out $5.4 billion in market valuation. During its IPO debut week, Newsmax was only one of a handful of stocks in the green amid a sea of red.
After Day 2 on the NYSE, Newsmax's market capitalization at $32 billion was higher than those of 235 companies in the S&P 500 benchmark index.
Record Ratings
On Monday, Newsmax reported significant audience growth in the first quarter of 2025, with total viewership reaching 33.6 million — an eye-popping 50% increase from 22.4 million in Q1 2024, as Nielsen reported.
Newsmax also achieved a 15% quarter-over-quarter growth from Q4 2024's 29.3 million viewers.
As Jason Villar, Newsmax Vice President of Media and Market Research, put it: "These strong surges in audiences rarely happen in cable news. We are clearly bucking the trend of cable news and overall cable viewership, as viewers clearly like the product Newsmax is offering."
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