Trump poised for billions as stock market deal passes
By Natalie Sherman
Donald Trump appears to be scrambling for funds to pay a $464m (£365m) fraud fine. Could the stock market ride to his rescue?
Trump Media, which runs the social media platform Truth Social, is poised to become a publicly listed company, after a majority of shareholders of Digital World Acquisition Corp voted on Friday to acquire it.
Mr Trump is due to have a stake of at least 58% in the merged company, worth nearly $3bn at Digital World’s current share prices.
It’s an astonishing potential windfall for Mr Trump in exchange for a business whose own auditor warned last year it was at risk of failure.
Never mind the many red flags associated with the deal, including unresolved lawsuits from former business partners. There’s also an $18m settlement that Digital World agreed to pay last year to resolve fraud charges over how the merger plan came together.
Shares in Digital World dropped more than 13% on Friday after the approval, ending the day at $36.94.
Backers of Digital World – the vast majority of whom are individual investors instead of Wall Street firms, many apparently Trump loyalists – seemed unfazed.
“This is just the start,” Chad Nedohin, a deal supporter, said on his show DWAC Live on the video platform Rumble after the approval was announced. “There’s no reason to freak out.”
