CNBC’s Kernen Gets Comically Snippy With Co-Anchor Sorkin For Even Bringing Up Trump Media Stock ‘Mess’

CNBC anchor Joe Kernen got testy with co-anchor Andrew Ross Sorkin for bringing up the Trump Media stock “mess” — and the troubled company’s low stock price.

Former President Donald Trump’s Trump Media and Technology (DJT) company began trading on the NASDAQ stock exchange in the spring and immediately shot up in initial trading. But, the following Monday saw the stock sharply fall after some negative financial disclosures, then rallied somewhat, but has now fallen sharply again as Vice President Kamala Harris gains in the polls, and after Trump made an ostentatious return to X/Twitter.

On top of that, last week Truth Social’s co-founders sold off about $100 million of their stock, and the date on which Trump can sell his shares is approaching. The stock sits just above its all-time low, with a share price slightly north of 16 bucks.

On Friday’s edition of CNBC’s Squawk Box, Sorkin pivoted from the news that Elon Muck will appear at a Trump rally in Butler, PA this weekend to circle back on the DJT stock’s woes — to Kernen’s displeasure:

ANDREW ROSS SORKIN: Meantime, separately, we were watching Shares of Trump Media, a new filing revealing that the chief operating officer, Andrew North, while resigned late last month. The company did not provide an explanation but said it plans to transition his duties internally.

In the same filing, the social media company announced that it will release nearly 800,000 shares of stock to early investor Ark Global in accordance with a recent court order that ought to resolve the dispute. If remember between the company and one of the sponsors of the SpaC deal that took Trump media public at yesterday’s closing price, those shares would be worth about $12.7 million. You’re looking at that stock now at $16.22.

JOE KERNEN: So they’re not going back to the same spot in Butler, are they? Or that.

ANDREW ROSS SORKIN: I don’t know if it’s the exact same.

JOE KERNEN: Sort of move or the sloped roof. I mean, it was tough to say. Yeah, It similarly is tough, tough to secure last time for whatever reason. But just.

ANDREW ROSS SORKIN: I’m curious, back to on the Trump Media thing.

JOE KERNEN: I saw you in, you had to talk. You want to talk about that badly. Okay.

ANDREW ROSS SORKIN: I’m curious.

JOE KERNEN: Curious about what?

ANDREW ROSS SORKIN: I’m curious about is the shareholders who owned the stock when it was much higher.

JOE KERNEN: What? They lost a lot of money. What what what what where’s what’s the, what is the curiosity? What do you want to know?

ANDREW ROSS SORKIN: What do you think they were sold?

JOE KERNAN: I–.

ANDREW ROSS SORKIN: A bill of goods?

JOE KERNEN: Yes they were sold that he wasn’t going to go back on Twitter and it was going to be–.

I mean, it was always, from the SpaC IPO on, it was trading at a thousand times revenue or something.

ANDREW ROSS SORKIN: No, right–.

JOE KERNEN: So as you duly noted. And now it’s I, I don’t know looks like a trying to get back to 20 now after what what a get to 14? 13? I don’t know what it got to.

But the lockups done, right I guess people can sell it if they want now and the founder, the co founders out completely?

ANDREW ROSS SORKIN: Right.

JOE KERNEN: Resigned. I don’t know? You can opine however you’d like to on DJT.

ANDREW ROSS SORKIN: No, it, I mean obviously it’s a mess!

JOE KERNEN: Okay.

ANDREW ROSS SORKIN: It’s it’s a mess! That’s just what it is!

JOE KERNEN: Okay.

ANDREW ROSS SORKIN: And I just think it’s worth acknowledging what’s got. We said, you know, we said when this thing went public that it was a mess and it made no sense. And here we are. And now–

JOE KERNEN: Is, is this a good way to cast aspersions on on the candidate? Or is it–

ANDREW ROSS SORKIN: It’s his company. It’s his, has his name on it.

JOE KERNEN: So then yes. Okay.

ANDREW ROSS SORKIN: Maybe!

JOE KERNEN: Okay! There you go!

But I just think, you know, we talk about people managing businesses and who’s good at this and that. And, you know, when people make promises.

JOE KERNEN: He’s still worth like $1 billion probably from this, isn’t he? I mean it–.

ANDREW ROSS SORKIN: He may be, But is that is that the measure? Is it about his money? Or is it about if it’s it’s this is about you tell the public one thing and you want the public to, you want the public to believe in something.

JOE KERNEN: If we if we did–.

ANDREW ROSS SORKIN: This is another example of something that hasn’t worked.

JOE KERNEN: If we did two stories and one of them was Elon Musk is actually going to be–.

That’s the one that I probably would have focused on. I don’t know if I would have focused on DJT being at 16. That would have been more interesting to me. But it just depends on your perspective. I think.

ANDREW ROSS SORKIN: That that may be.

Watch above via CNBC’s Squawk Box.