Triller stock (NASDAQ: ILLR) has parted with a substantial portion of its value since debuting on NASDAQ. Photo Credit: Solen Feyissa
Triller (NASDAQ: ILLR) has finally made its way onto the public market, but shares have suffered a double-digit slip out of the gate.
We broke down the long-awaited stock market debut of Triller yesterday. In the end, following pushes for a direct listing and a SPAC merger, the self-described “AI-powered open garden technology platform for creators” united with Hong Kong’s AGBA Group to list on NASDAQ.
DMN has charted those and adjacent moves from Triller – besides an array of acquisitions, legal battles, and other developments – for years. As things stand, the seemingly former Verzuz owner operates the namesake short-form video platform, the TrillerTV “digital platform for global sports and entertainment,” Amplify.ai, and several other divisions.
(Given the stock price decline, it should be reiterated that Verzuz co-founders Timbaland and Swizz Beatz previously sued Triller for a massive alleged non-payment and reportedly retained stakes in the now-public company even after bringing their program to Twitter/X.)
Keeping the focus on the increasingly diversified business’s share-price showing, however, ILLR was worth $3.35 at the time of this writing – down about 23% from opening and even more than that from its $5.60-per-share price upon debuting.
All told, that comes out to a nearly $152 million market cap for the overarching Triller Group, according to the appropriate listing on NASDAQ. Of course, the question is where ILLR will go from here, and while it perhaps needn’t be said, only time will reveal how shares perform during the remainder of 2024 and beyond.
Zeroing in on what we do know, though, the publicly traded Triller on Tuesday teed up “a statement on future leadership, strategy and objectives” for October 22nd. The exact scope of that statement is unclear, but higher-ups will presumably shed light on their vision for the newly combined businesses.
Back in April, AGBA pointed to the development of a “global AI-driven social video platform,” the generation of artist and sports content “for a global audience,” and “cutting-edge fintech investments,” among other things, as the core components of Triller.
Running with those points – and notwithstanding the actual Triller video-sharing app’s relatively small revenue contribution to the wider business – the fate of TikTok in the U.S. is a decidedly big deal for Triller.
In three months, barring a possible six-month extension or a court intervention, TikTok will have to sell (which execs have emphasized isn’t in the cards) or cease operating in America. The likes of Reels and Shorts are certainly poised to pick up a lot of these users and viewer hours if the ban goes through; both have been making gains in any event, and many short-form enthusiasts already utilize multiple platforms.
But Triller would undoubtedly position itself to attract former TikTok diehards (who, at this point, are apparently unbothered by the ample criticism and lawsuits involving the ByteDance-owned platform), potentially realizing a material userbase expansion as a result.
