Current value: 1.2 billion
Trump gets a huge block of shares
April 24, 2024, 12:23 p.m
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Donald Trump’s Truth Social network doesn’t make any money, but it’s still worth billions on the stock market. Fans and gamblers enjoy the shares – and help the ex-president get an additional share package. But Trump can’t cash in yet.
Donald Trump’s social media network Truth Social can become a gold mine for the ex-president. Even though the company is losing money. Last year – these are the most recently published figures – the project made a loss of a good $58 million with sales of around four million dollars. But Truth Social is still worth a whopping $4.4 billion on the stock market.
The company went public at the end of March. The stock price shot up, then fell sharply and has fluctuated wildly ever since. Nevertheless, it did not fall below $17.50 on any of the first 20 trading days. This was important for Trump because it fulfilled the condition for another share package.
Truth Social went public through a merger with a takeover vehicle (SPAC). As part of this transaction, Trump was promised an additional 36 million shares, which he is now receiving. At the current rate, the bonus is worth around $1.2 billion. In total, Trump now owns almost 115 million Truth Social shares worth $3.7 billion.
Trump has to be patient
However, Trump cannot yet cash in. He is not allowed to sell his shares until September at the earliest because he and other existing shareholders are subject to a six-month lock-up period after the IPO. How much money Trump can make is completely unclear.
Since Trump Media’s listing, the stock has fluctuated between a high of $66.22 and a low of $22.84. It currently costs $32.50. Yesterday, Tuesday, the price fell by more than 8 percent, making it 60 percent below the record level in March. The price is not influenced by fundamental data such as sales, profit prospects or user numbers. Truth Social is behaving like a “meme” stock that attracts Trump fans and gamblers. This means that the price can temporarily go through the roof or crash.
Trump owns almost two-thirds of all Truth Social shares. On paper, his wealth has therefore increased significantly. According to the US magazine Forbes, Trump is worth $4.4 billion. The financial news agency “Bloomberg” even puts his assets at $6.3 billion.