Chris Ruddy — a former New York Post journalist and the founder of conservative cable news network Newsmax — became an improbable billionaire in late March when Newsmax’s shares soared more than 2,200% in its first two days of trading, valuing his stake at more than $9.1 billion on paper. That was short-lived: a day later, Newsmax’s shares fell by nearly 80$339 million, according to Bloomberg’s calculations. In early October, Newsmax’s stock gained 11% ...