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Shares in Donald Trump’s social media business soared by more than 50 per cent on its New York market debut on Tuesday, making the former US president’s stake worth more than $5bn .
Trump Media & Technology Group, the company behind his Truth Social platform, jumped as high as $79.38 from the previous day’s price of $49.95 before paring some gains. Trading was so volatile it was halted for a few minutes.
TMTG is now listed on the Nasdaq stock exchange under the ticker symbol DJT — meant to pay “direct homage” to Trump, according to a press release — after completing its merger with blank-cheque company Digital World Acquisition Corp on Monday.
Trump, owner of 58 per cent of the shares in the merged company, becomes the biggest beneficiary from the price surge as he faces a pile-up of legal and financial woes ahead of what is expected to be the most expensive presidential election campaign in US history. TMTG now has a market valuation of approximately $14bn.
The share price jump also enriched three of Trump’s former business partners who had filed legal claims regarding the transaction alleging that their stakes have been substantially diluted.
Patrick Orlando, the Miami-based businessman behind DWAC, recently sued the company claiming he should receive a larger distribution of shares. His stake in TMTG is now worth more than half a billion dollars.
It is a remarkable turn of fortune for the former chief executive of the shell company that merged with TMTG as it faced investigations from US regulators and prosecutors.
Orlando’s stake includes 5.5mn “founder shares” he received for the nominal fee of $25,000. Those shares are currently worth about $400mn, while his overall stake is worth roughly $600mn.
Wes Moss and Andy Litinsky — two former contestants on Trump’s reality television show The Apprentice who say they came up with the idea of setting up TMTG and merging it with a special purpose acquisition company after Trump lost the 2020 election — together own shares worth about $500mn.
But their company United Atlantic Ventures, also sued ahead of a shareholder vote on the merger with DWAC, alleging that Trump and his associates had orchestrated a “last-minute stock grab”.
While they sit on huge paper gains, Trump and other company backers are subject to lock-up agreements that prevents them from selling shares for six months. That means their fortunes could slip away if TMTG’s share prices declines.
Also benefiting from the share surge are former government officials including Devin Nunes, a Trump ally and former congressman who left office in 2022 to become TMTG’s chief executive. He owns $8mn worth of shares.
TMTG has never turned a profit. The company, which operates the social media platform Truth Social and plans to launch a streaming service in the next year lost $49mn in the first nine months of last year and took in $3.4mn in revenue.
DWAC has been popular among retail traders who have helped send its share price up almost 300 per cent over the past six months. It has also become a prominent topic on the WallStreetBets Reddit forum where day traders share stock tips.
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