Donald Trump's net worth soars to $6.5bn after media group merger

Donald Trump’s net worth soars to $6.5bn after media group merger

Despite a litany of legal cases against him, former US President Donald Trump’s net worth is now greater than it has ever been and the businessman has earned a place as one of the 500 richest people on the planet.

What is Donald Trump’s net worth?

The incredible boost to Trump’s fortunes comes after the recently completed merger between Trump’s social media company Trump Media & Technology Group (TMTG) and the special purpose acquisition firm Digital World Acquisition Corp (DWAC). The deal, completed on Monday (Mar. 25) has seen the 77-year-old’s total wealth rise to $6.5bn according to Bloomberg.

Trump owns nearly 80 million shares of the company which operates Truth Social, or around 58%, of the combined entity which will begin trading under the ticker DJT on Tuesday.

At DWAC’s closing price of $49.95 on Monday, Trump’s 58% stake is currently valued at approximately $3.9 billion on paper. This massive increase from just $22.5 million based on the last disclosure forms accounts for the bulk of the $4 billion spike in his net worth over the past few days.

The timing of the merger and the skyrocketing value of his personal fortune could not be better for Trump, who is facing a huge civil fraud penalty. Initially ordered to pay $464 million for a bond to avoid asset seizures, a New York appeals court dramatically lowered that amount to $175 million – a sum Trump claims he can cover.

However, Trump cannot immediately cash in on his new paper fortune from the TMTG merger, as his shares are locked up for roughly six months under the merger agreement terms. There are also lingering questions about the company’s financial viability, with less than $3.5 million in revenue over the first nine months of 2023 while posting a $49 million net loss during that period.

Nevertheless, Trump’s entry into the rarefied air of the world’s highest net-worth individuals represents a striking reversal from the legal and financial woes that seemed to be intensifying against him just 24 hours prior. For now, his long-held assertion that he is a billionaire is indisputable.

Trump took to his network Truth Social to celebrate the news, posting a report from Fox News with the caption, “ALWAYS ONE STEP AHEAD”.