TODAY IN HISTORY
Today is Wednesday, March 27, the 87th day of 2024. There are 279 days left in the year. On this date in:
1884: A violent Cincinnati mob attacked jury members and eventually burned down a courthouse during a multiday riot sparked by a manslaughter verdict the jury reached in a murder case.
1886: Apache leader Geronimo surrendered to the U.S. Army to end the heaviest battles between the two sides that began in 1849.
1915: “Typhoid” Mary Mallon, an Irish American thought to have infected dozens of people with typhoid fever as an asymptomatic carrier, was quarantined for a second and final time.
1933: Japan dropped out of the League of Nations after the league approved findings of a commission that ruled in favor China regarding an incident that led to Japan’s invasion of Manchuria.
1941: Prince Paul, regent of Yugoslavia, was deposed in a coup after reaching a pact with Adolf Hitler. His nephew, Peter II, ruled for a few weeks until Axis troops invaded.
1952: Kiichiro Toyoda, founder and namesake of Toyota Motor Corp., died at 57.
1964: With a 9.2 magnitude, the most powerful earthquake recorded in North America slammed Alaska, killed over 100 people and wreaked destruction in Anchorage on Good Friday.
1968: Yuri Gagarin, who became the first human in space in 1961, died in a plane crash near Moscow.
1975: Construction began on the Trans-Alaska Pipeline System for moving oil.
1976: The Washington Metro transit system’s first phase opened to the public.
1998: The Food and Drug Administration approved Viagra, aka sildenafil, to treat male impotence.
2002: Shirley Ajayi became the first African American given a part on a television show as a psychic.
2020: The Trump administration signed the Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security Act, aka CARES Act, into law. The act included giving $1,200 to each adult with larger payments for families with children, expanded unemployment benefits, forgivable small business loans, loans to major industries and corporations, and expanded funding to state and local governments in response to the economic crisis caused by COVID-19.
Donald Trump’s social media platform is now trading on the stock market.
The parent company of Truth Social, Trump Media & Technology Group, went public Tuesday morning under the ticker DJT, short for Donald J. Trump. The stock was trading at about $67 early Tuesday afternoon, up 33%.
The public listing was made possible by Trump Media’s merger with Digital World Acquisition, a special purpose acquisition company, or SPAC. Digital World’s shareholders voted in favor of the merger Friday, and Trump Media took Digital World’s place on the Nasdaq on Tuesday.
Before trading opened Tuesday, Truth Social’s parent company had a market value of about $6.8 billion. Because Trump owns about 79 million of the 135 million outstanding shares, his stake in the company was worth about $4 billion.
It’s a pricey valuation, especially for a company that has lost tens of millions of dollars since its 2021 launch and generated just over $3 million in revenue during the first nine months of 2023.