The net worth of Donald Trump has almost halved after Truth Social’s filing revealed huge net losses.
Former president and Republican candidate Donald Trump saw a steep drop in his net worth on Monday, after a similarly steep rise last week. The jumps were connected to the rise and fall of Trump Media’s share price. Trump Media & Technology Group is the company that owns Truth Social, Trump’s signature social network that’s only available in the United States.
Last week, Trump Media merged with Digital World Acquisition Corp., a publicly traded company. The merger brought Truth Social on public trading, causing a spending spree from Trump’s electoral supporters.
The stock price of Trump Media almost doubled in value after the merger. Trump, who owns 57.3% of the company, saw his personal net worth increase by $3.8 billion.
However, the rise was followed by an immediate drop of almost 25% on Monday’s trading, losing Trump $2.5 billion in net worth in a single day.
Currently, Trump Media shares are traded at $52.18, up almost 14% since their first day of trading. This still makes Trump a multi-billionaire, though his status as such is only related to Trump Media’s stock price.
According to the deal, Trump cannot sell his shares before 6 months from the merger, though a board decision can repeal this provision.
Financial troubles
The main reason for Trump Media’s plunge in share price is its dubious financial situation. According to the necessary filing to bring the company public, Trump Media closed 2023 with a $58.2 million net loss while only bringing $4 million in revenues.
Interest rates made up the largest cost at $39.4 million, according to the filing.
After the initial frenzy, markets naturally concluded that a $6.5 billion evaluation was too much for a company in this state. “TMTG expects to incur operating losses for the foreseeable future,” the filing admitted.
However, Trump Media CEO Devin Nunes expressed optimism for the future. He claimed the company is now debt-free and with $200 million in the bank. “We intend to take full advantage of these opportunities to make Truth Social the quintessential free-speech platform for the American people”, Nunes said.
In any case, the evaluation is a sigh of relief for Trump himself, whose wallet has been struggling under a presidential campaign and two multi-millionaire court fines. A New York court charged Trump with a $175 million fine (down from $454 million) last week in a civil fraud case.
This added up to $83.3 million in defamation damages to writer E. Jean Carroll, who a jury deemed a victim of sexual assault by Trump.
