Trump Media & Technology Group completed a deal to merge with Digital World Acquisition Corp., a cash-rich shell company. The merger increases the former president’s net worth by roughly $3 billion.
Former President Donald J. Trump’s social media company officially became a public company on Monday morning, and in the process the former president’s net worth has jumped by billions of dollars.
A lawyer for Trump Media & Technology Group filed papers on Monday with the Delaware Division of Corporations, which said the company’s merger with a cash-rich shell company had formally closed. On Friday, shareholders of Digital World Acquisition Corp. approved the long-delayed merger with Trump Media by an overwhelming majority.
Trump Media announced in a regulatory filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission that shares of the company would begin trading on the Nasdaq on Tuesday, under the stock symbol “DJT.”
After the announcement, that stock jumped 24 percent to $45.60 a share.
Trump Media is now valued at more than $5 billion — even though its flagship Truth Social digital platform took in just $3.3 million in revenue during the first nine months of 2023.
Based on the current stock price, Mr. Trump’s 79-million-share stake in Trump Media is worth over $3 billion — at least on paper. The merger was finalized just as Mr. Trump was facing a deadline on Monday to secure a bond to cover a big penalty imposed by a judge in a civil fraud case. But in a break for Mr. Trump, the judge on Monday reduced the amount that Mr. Trump would need to post, to $175 million from $454 million.
In order to tap into his newfound wealth in Trump Media shares, Mr. Trump would need the company’s new board to remove a restriction that prevents him from selling shares or using shares as collateral for the next six months.
