- Newsmax stock soared over 700% on its first trading day, pushing its valuation past $10 billion.
- Founder Christopher Ruddy now holds a $6 billion stake and says Newsmax is positioning as a growth stock.
- Despite modest viewership compared to Fox, Newsmax is expanding through streaming, fees, and podcasts.
Shares of Newsmax, the conservative cable news channel, shot up more than 60% on Tuesday afternoon, following a Monday debut that can only be described as… kind of insane.
On its first trading day, Newsmax stock surged over 700%, opening at $14 and closing at $83.51—a leap nobody quite expected, especially not in today’s shaky media landscape.
Traditional media IPOs? Pretty rare these days. Between changing ad models, cord-cutting, and the overall shift to streaming, most networks are hanging on, not going public. Which is why Newsmax’s debut—while headline-grabbing—also raised some eyebrows.
Compare that to CoreWeave, the much-hyped AI firm that IPO’d Friday. Biggest tech debut since 2021. And yet, its launch was… mild, honestly. Newsmax stole the spotlight.
From Cable Upstart to $10 Billion Valuation
With the stock’s pop, Newsmax is now valued at over $10 billion. And Christopher Ruddy, the company’s founder and CEO, is officially in billionaire territory. He owns around 39.2 million Class A shares and over 81% of the voting stock—which, as of Tuesday, makes his stake worth more than $6 billion.
“We’re not a value stock,” Ruddy told CNBC’s Squawk Box on Monday. “We see ourselves as a growth stock. Those multiples are going to be a lot higher.”
Bold claim. But hey, so far, investors seem to agree.
On Tuesday, Newsmax sent out a newsletter to investors, celebrating the opening day fireworks. Ruddy said the buying frenzy reflected what viewers have already shown: loyalty.
“Americans have been voting with remotes and apps… now they’re buying shares. They like us, they value us, and they want us to grow.”
Newsmax’s Rise in the Trump Era
Newsmax’s momentum has grown during Donald Trump’s second term, carving out its own lane in conservative media. According to Nielsen, it’s now the fourth most-watched cable news channel—behind Fox News, MSNBC, and CNN.
Still, it’s not exactly breathing down Fox’s neck. Between Dec. 30 and March 20, Newsmax averaged 309,000 prime-time viewers, while Fox News pulled in over 3 million in the same time frame. So yeah—still a bit of a gap.
Ruddy said the goal was always to chip away at Fox’s lead. He started Newsmax as a digital outlet and slowly shifted it to cable, hoping to grab market share from the top dog.
The Bundle Problem (And Newsmax’s Workaround)
Ruddy’s no fan of the traditional TV bundle, calling it “terrible” for both the cable industry and consumers.
“People still have to pay for a giant package of channels just to get ESPN. It’s outdated,” he said Monday.
Even though the cable model continues to bring in money—thanks to ad deals and channel fees—the subscriber base is shrinking fast. People are ditching the bundle and heading to streaming. And Newsmax? It’s adjusting.
They’ve started collecting fees from pay-TV distributors (instead of just relying on ads), plus they’ve branched out into streaming and podcasting—the usual moves in today’s media world.
Ruddy added that those fees are growing, and Newsmax’s presence across platforms gives it flexibility as the cable space continues to evolve… or unravel, depending who you ask.
