SurgePays stock surges 59.76% after hours on Redline wireless joint venture

SurgePays shares jumped 59.76% to $0.36 in after-hours trading Wednesday after the company unveiled Redline Wireless Group, a joint venture aimed at sharply expanding its prepaid wireless distribution. SurgePays said it will hold a 51% controlling stake in Redline, while an unnamed major U.S. prepaid wireless master distributor will own the remaining 49%. The company said it intends to consolidate Redline’s financial results as a majority-owned subsidiary. The venture combines SurgePays’ mobile virtual network operator infrastructure, including its LinkUp Mobile brand, billing and provisioning systems, customer service operations and other support functions, with a retail channel of more than 20,000 active independent prepaid wireless dealers nationwide. Chairman and CEO Brian Cox said the arrangement pairs the company’s full MVNO infrastructure with one of the largest independent dealer distribution footprints in the country, and management said both parties are targeting more than 1 million subscribers over the coming years. SurgePays said the partnership follows more than a year of system integration and operational development intended to support large-scale subscriber growth. The transaction marks a shift from relying mainly on organic dealer recruitment to gaining immediate scale through an established dealer network already selling prepaid wireless services. SurgePays, which has historically served underbanked and underserved consumers through wireless and fintech products, said the Redline venture is its largest disclosed distribution expansion. The company had a market capitalization of about $5.62 million and 25.12 million shares outstanding. SURG has traded between a 52-week high of $3.22 and a 52-week low of $0.20, with a Relative Strength Index of 32.28, and the stock has fallen 92.38% over the past 12 months. Shares closed the regular session Wednesday at $0.22, up 6.23%.