Topline
Former President Donald Trump’s net worth inched back above $4 billion Thursday for the first time since last week, as shares of the Truth Social parent stage a surprise recovery—but Trump is still much less rich on paper than he was shortly after his company’s public debut.
Trump arrives in Manhattan court Tuesday.
Timeline
Shares of Trump Media climb more than 25% to $33, sending Trump’s net worth to $4.5 billion again thanks to a more than $500 million jump in the value of his social media holdings, with the rally seemingly coming as a bit of a squeeze on short sellers stemming from the company’s notice to shareholders on how to prevent their shares from being used on short trades, which bet share prices will go down.
Trump’s fortune grows by almost $300 million to $3.9 billion as Trump Media shares stage their best single-day gain since March 27 at about 12%, though Trump’s $2 billion stake remains a small fraction of what it was three weeks ago.
Trump’s fortune dips by more than $280 million to $3.7 billion, according to Forbes’ calculations, as shares of Trump Media fell 14% to come to a nearly 65% loss in April, knocking Trump’s social media grubstake to $1.8 billion (about half of Trump’s net worth comes from his Trump Media stake at this point).
Trump Media’s market value sinks below $5 billion, a far cry from its more than $10 billion peak just two weeks prior (Trump owns a majority of the company).
Trump Media’s first day of trading as its own stock brings its namesake’s net worth from $2.3 billion to $6.4 billion, and the value of his Trump Media stake peaks at some $6.25 billion when the company’s share price briefly peaked at nearly $80.
Shareholders of blank-check firm Digital World Acquisition Corp. agree to merge with Trump Media after more than two years of roadblocks, with Trump’s paper holdings in the entity ending trading at a value of about $2.9 billion, though Forbes did not incorporate this into his net worth calculations until the merger officially completed as Trump only received his shares upon the completion of Digital World’s transformation to Trump Media.
Key Background
Trump launched Truth Social in 2022 during his suspension from mainstream social media platforms for his posts leading up to the Jan. 6, 2021 storming of the U.S. Capitol. The special-purpose acquisition (SPAC) firm Digital World announced its intent to merge with Trump Media three months before Truth Social’s launch, capitalizing on the SPAC craze which has since gone dry. The 10-figure sum Trump gained on paper via Trump Media’s listing came at an opportune time for the 77-year-old, as his legal troubles and related fees mount, beginning a criminal trial Monday in New York and posting a $175 million bond earlier this month.
Tangent
Trump is not yet able to cash in on his Trump Media stake due to federal regulations, though his company’s filing this week to publicly list more shares may provide a quicker offramp. However, it’s entirely possible that the value of Trump’s social media holdings plummet further before he can sell any shares, considering typical metrics indicate his company is still extremely overvalued: Its $4.1 billion market cap is 1,000 times its meager $4.1 million in revenue last year, giving it a price-to-sales ratio more than 350 times higher than that of the average S&P 500 company.
Further Reading
