Trump’s Truth Social: A Lucrative Venture and Financial Struggle Unveiled
Watan-Western media reported that shares of the social media company owned by former US President Donald Trump, “Truth Social,” surged by 40 percent on Tuesday, the first day of trading on the NASDAQ stock exchange, boosting Trump’s significant stake in the company.
According to the British newspaper The Guardian, investors agreed to plans to make Trump’s social media platform “Truth Social” public on Friday, resulting in the former president amassing a substantial fortune of $3 billion.
Trump Media & Technology Group, the company behind his fledgling social network “Truth Social,” spent years struggling in the stock market through what’s known as a “blank check” merger with a shell company.
Finally, on Friday morning, after a vote by shareholders of Digital World Acquisition, the entity Trump’s endeavors sought to merge with, succeeded. While Trump Media has struggled since the lackluster launch of Truth Social, which generated only about $5 million in sales since 2021, Trump supporters rallied to bolster stocks in the digital realm.
The stock has risen by approximately 145% since the beginning of the year, bolstering the company’s value to about $6 billion. The company will now trade on the stock market under the name Trump Media & Technology Group under the stock symbol “DJT” – the initials of Trump’s name.
Prior to the announcement, Digital World’s share price was $44, indicating that the new company would debut with a value of over $5 billion.
Trump’s stake in the merged company is 79 million shares, leaving him with a stake worth about $3 billion on paper. However, he won’t be able to cash out this stake immediately, as major shareholders in the company are unable to sell shares for six months after the merger.
Trump’s Financial Crisis
Trading in the digital realm was particularly volatile, with its shares falling by almost 14% after Friday’s vote, raising questions about how Trump Media would perform in the stock market before Trump could sell any of his stake.
According to the British newspaper, this comes amid a financial crisis faced by Trump as he seeks to regain the presidency from Joe Biden in the upcoming November elections.
“Truth Social” was launched in February 2022, one year after Trump was banned from major social media platforms, including Facebook and Twitter, following the events of January 6 when his supporters stormed the US Capitol.