Trump secures additional Trump Media shares

Based on the firm’s stock hitting certain price benchmarks, Trump was awarded an additional 36 million shares in the firm that owns his social media platform Truth Social

Former U.S. President Donald Trump has secured an additional $1.6 billion worth of shares in Trump Media, as per a regulatory filing this week.

Based on the firm’s stock hitting certain price benchmarks, Trump was awarded an additional 36 million shares in the firm that owns his social media platform Truth Social. That brings his total ownership to over 114 million shares, which based on Wednesday’s closing stock price, are worth around $5.2 billion.

For now, the value of those shares is considered “paper wealth.” Trump is barred from selling any shares for six months after Trump Media went public without securing a waiver from the firm’s board.

Trump, the presumptive Republican presidential nominee, now owns nearly two-thirds of the firm’s outstanding shares.

Trump Media & Technology Group shares have soared in the last couple of weeks and closed Tuesday at $49.93. Trump only needed the stock to be above $17.50 each for 20 successive trading days to secure the new shares.

The stock on Wednesday dipped 9.6%, closing at $45.13.

Trump Media got its place on the Nasdaq after merging with a firm called Digital World Acquisition Corp., a special purpose acquisition company, or SPAC. These type of mergers offer young firms quicker and easier routes to getting their shares trading publicly.

On March 26, the first day of trading after Trump Media closed the merger with Digital World Acquisition, shares in the newly combined firm touched around $80 each in intraday trading before ending at $57.99.

Less than a week after that flashy stock market debut, Trump Media revealed that it lost around $58.2 million last year, sending its stock down more than 21%. The 2023 losses marked a sharp drop compared with the profit of $50.5 million that the firm reported for 2022, as per a regulatory filing.