Despite facing potentially massive legal penalties and a cash crunch for his presidential campaign, Donald Trump found himself wealthier than ever before on Monday afternoon despite years of reported losses in his businesses.
According to Bloomberg’s tracking of the 500 richest individuals globally, Trump’s net worth has surged by over $4 billion in recent days and currently stands at approximately $6.5 billion. This drastic increase was a result of the merger between his social media enterprise – Trump Media & Technology Group- and Digital World Acquisition Corp., also known as DWAC, which received approval on Friday.
Trump holds approximately 58% or almost 80 million shares of Trump Media, the company that runs Truth Social- his social media platform. Based on DWAC’s Monday closing rate of $49.95 per share, Trump’s stocks are valuated at around $4 billion in paper value. The recently merged firm announced its trading commencement from Tuesday using DJT as its symbol code.
On Monday, DWAC’s stock price experienced a 35% surge following the reduction of cash needed for the former president to obtain a bond. This was due to an appeal court in New York slashing down his civil fraud penalty from $454 million. Earlier that day, Trump seemed incapable of presenting over $550 million required as collateral for obtaining said bond and preventing seizure of his real estate properties by authorities.
At approximately 10 a.m., an appeals court decided that Trump was only obligated to put forth a bond of $175 million. The judgment’s enforcement was also delayed for ten days. According to Trump, he has the necessary funds to satisfy this requirement.
Due to the media merger and revised bond, 77-year-old Trump was recently added to the Bloomberg Billionaires Index for the first time ever. Nonetheless, it remains uncertain whether his fortune will sustain its current level as he cannot trade in his DWAC stocks for six months while their value has been quite unstable historically.
During the initial nine months of 2023, Trump Media generated less than $3.5 million in earnings but suffered a net loss amounting to$49 million within that duration. According to MSNBC’s Stephanie Ruhle on Friday, the media corporation owned by Donald Trump is akin to meme stocks as it relies heavily on only one individual for its success.
Bloomberg derived their calculation of Trump’s net worth from mandatory ethics disclosures for presidential nominees, public records associated with significant real estate holdings, and reports provided by staff members.