MW Phunware's stock slides as CFO steps down and poll puts Harris ahead in Iowa

By James Rogers

Shares of Trump-related mobile-advertising company Phunware are down more than 11% premarket

Shares of Phunware Inc. are down 11.1% in premarket trades after the mobile-advertising company tied to former President Donald Trump's 2020 campaign said that CFO Troy Reisner is stepping down. The news came as a recent poll put Vice President Kamala Harris ahead in the battleground state of Iowa.

Reisner notified the company on Nov. 1 that he intends to step down as CFO on or after Nov. 15, 2024, and prior to Nov. 30, 2024, according to an SEC filing Monday. "Mr. Reisner's pending departure from the Company is not due to any disagreement with respect to any matter relating to the Company's operations, policies or practices or any issues regarding accounting or other financial policies or practices," Phunware $(PHUN)$ said, and has initiated a search for potential candidates to replace him.

"Until the Company engages a replacement for Mr. Reisner, the Company's Interim Chief Executive Officer, Stephen Chen, will work with the Company's Vice President of Accounting and Financial Reporting, Brendhan Botkin, to assume the duties as principal financial officer and principal accounting officer of the Company," Phunware said in the filing.

Related: Phunware's stock tumbles more than 35% after CEO retires

The company has seen some significant leadership changes recently - last month Phunware announced the retirement of Chief Executive Mike Snavely, which sent its stock tumbling. After rallying for most of October, the stock is on pace to extend its losing streak to six days.

Shares of Phunware, like Trump Media & Technology Group Corp. $(DJT)$ have soared in recent weeks, and are up 89.3% in the last three months. Phunware garnered plenty of attention after the company developed and launched a mobile app for Donald Trump's 2020 re-election campaign.

Last month Phunware shares climbed after then-CEO Snavely gave a business update and announced the development of a new generative-AI platform. Snavely's letter to shareholders mentioned the company's development and implementation of the Donald J. Trump 2020 presidential campaign app.

Related: Phunware stock climbs 18% after mobile-advertising company touts generative AI

Phunware's stock is up 64.4% in 2024, outpacing the S&P 500 index's SPX gain of 20.1%.

In an SEC filing last week, Phunware said that it has entered into an amended and restated equity distribution agreement with Canaccord Genuity for an offering of up to $171,520,779.

Shares of Trump Media, which operates Donald Trump's social-media platform Truth Social and is viewed as a Wall Street proxy for Trump's election bid, are down 7.1% in premarket trades after the Des Moines Register/Mediacom poll showed Harris leading in Iowa. The poll shows Harris leading Republican presidential nominee Trump by 3 percentage points in the state that Trump won in the past two election cycles.

Related: Trump-linked Phunware's stock set for biggest gain since March on 'insane volume'

Trump Media shares are up 13.3% in the last three months and 74.6% in 2024.

-James Rogers

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November 04, 2024 08:33 ET (13:33 GMT)

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