By Donald Trump faces hundreds of millions of dollars in legal penalties, his presidential campaign is confronting a cash crunch and his businesses have reported operating losses for years.
But on Monday afternoon, Trump was richer than he has ever been.
Trump’s net worth shot up by more than $4 billion in recent days to about $6.5 billion, according to Bloomberg, which tracks the 500 wealthiest people in the world.
The bonanza was the result of a merger approved Friday between Trump’s social media company, Trump Media & Technology Group, and a shell company, Digital World Acquisition Corp., known as DWAC.
Trump owns nearly 80 million shares, or roughly 58%, of Trump Media, which operates his social media site Truth Social. At DWAC’s closing price Monday of $49.95 a share, Trump’s stock was worth $4 billion on paper.
The newly merged social media company said it will begin trading Tuesday under the ticker symbol DJT.
DWAC’s share price soared 35% in Monday trading, after a New York appeals court slashed the amount of cash the former president needs to get a bond saving him from having to immediately pay a $454 million civil fraud penalty.
Early Monday, Trump appeared to be unable to put up the more than $550 million to secure a bond that would stop the state from moving to seize his real estate assets.
Shortly after 10 a.m., an appeals court ruled that Trump only needed to post a $175 million bond. The court also paused the judgment from coming due for 10 days.
Trump says he has the cash to cover that bond.
As a result of the media merger and the adjusted bond, Trump, 77, was included Monday in the Bloomberg Billionaires Index for the first time in his life, according to the news outlet.
It’s unclear whether his wealth will stay this high, however. Trump is barred from selling his DWAC shares for six months, and the stock has a volatile share price history.
Trump Media brought in less than $3.5 million in revenue in the first nine months of 2023, while posting a $49 million net loss in the same period.
MSNBC’s Stephanie Ruhle on Friday described Trump’s media company as a meme stock largely dependent on one man.
Bloomberg said its estimate of Trump’s net worth was based on ethics disclosures required for presidential candidates, public filings tied to key real estate holdings and staff reporting.
