The Fox Newsmax television studios are seen in the FERV Forum the day before the National Republican Convention (RNC) on July 14, 2024, in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. The RNC will be held in Milwaukee from July 15 to 18.
Joe Raedle | Getty Images News | Getty images
Newsmax I went public to the New York Stock Exchange on Monday, while the conservative public of the cable information network increased after the election of President Donald Trump and other right -wing politicians.
The network began to negotiate under the “NMAX” symbol late Monday morning, opening at $ 14 per share after a price at $ 10 per share. It climbed more than 500% at noon in volatile trading.
In September, Newsmax announced its plans for a first public public call at the beginning of 2025. On Friday, the company said it has raised $ 75 million thanks to the sale of 7.5 million ordinary class B shares at a price of $ 10 per share.
A pure-play television publication in the United States is a rarity, with Dealogic data showing that there has not been a comparable to Newsmax in recent decades. Newsmax’s IPO occurs at a time when traditional cable television has suffered while consumers flee the bundle in favor of streaming. Now, news and live sports are the subject of the most public and most advertising revenues.
The beginnings also arise while the audience of the right content in prime time increased on the back of Trump and other right -wing politicians in the last elections.
Christopher Ruddy, the founder and CEO of the company, said on Monday on the “Squawk box” of CNBC, he had seen an opportunity to join the mixture since Fox Corp.’s Fox News had no competitor on the “center right market”.
“I think there was a request for more competition against Fox,” said Ruddy on Monday. Ruddy founded Newsmax in 1998 as a digital offer before becoming a cable television network in 2014.
Although the cable news landscape is dominated by Fox News, CNN and MSNBC, Newsmax has increased its audience in recent years and has been offered through most of the main paid television providers.
Ruddy said on Monday that Newsmax is the “Cable Four Cable Information Channel in the United States, just behind CNN”. Nielsen confirmed on Monday that Newsmax notes were “still” in fourth place behind Fox News, MSNBC and CNN.
Overall, Newsmax ranks among the first 20 among the average audiences of the wired network in prime time and day, Nielsen said on Monday.
“I think this is a fairly important achievement for a new 10 -year cable company,” said Ruddy on “Squawk Box” on Monday.
As its popularity has increased, Newsmax has negotiated license fees for cable television providers. When it started, Newsmax relied on advertising revenues. In 2023, he resolved a dispute with Directv – which led to be abandoned by the paid television supplier for a short period – after pushing costs.
While the company had become public, Ruddy minimized the pro -Trump trends in Newsmax – which reached a settlement of $ 40 million last year with SmartMatic on the false claims of the network according to which the voting machine company helped to rig the 2020 presidential election in favor of former president Joe Biden.
“We believe that we are conservatives with a mission of independent news and we ask difficult questions to the Trump administration,” said Ruddy on “Squawk Box” on Monday.
In an article on the social media platform X last week, Ruddy said he had received a Trump call and that the conversation addressed various subjects, including the company’s next IPO. “I shared with Potus my new saying:” A growing Trump raises all boats! “”
