The wealth of former President Donald Trump has risen in 2024 after his media company Trump Media & Technology Group DJT completed a SPAC merger and went public.
While the share price has fallen since its public debut, Trump could add to his wealth in another manner.
What Happened: The public debut of Trump Media & Technology Group (TMTG) has been one of the bigger stock storylines of 2024, with shares soaring in their debut and falling significantly a month later.
Another 36 million shares of Trump Media & Technology Group could soon belong to Trump, thanks to performance-based milestones laid out in the original SPAC merger agreement between TMTG and Digital World Acquisition Corporation.
If Trump Media & Technology Group has a weighted average price of $12.50 or more for 20 trading days during the 30-day trading period beginning on March 25, Trump will get additional shares, as reported by CNN. To get the full earnout, the share price will have to be equal to or higher than $17.50 during the same time period.
Based on a start date of March 25, this means the additional shares could be unlocked with shares over these prices on Tuesday, April 23.
The 36 million shares are worth $1.26 billion based on a price of $34.98 at the time of writing.
The additional shares would take Trump’s total stake up to 114.75 million shares, which would represent around 65% of the total shares of the company.
Trump’s shares owned in the company, including the performance based earnout shares, are subject to lock-up restrictions that could prevent him from immediately selling.
Related Link: Trump Hush Money Trial Has 12 Jurors: Here Are The 7 Men, 5 Women To Decide Former President’s Fate
Why It’s Important: Last week, shares of Trump Media & Technology Group traded higher after the company told shareholders ways to prevent their shares from getting loaned out and being loaned to short sellers.
The company also sent a letter to the Nasdaq on potential short selling of its stock.
“As you know, ‘naked’ short selling – selling shares of a stock without first borrowing the shares deemed difficult to locate – is generally illegal pursuant to Securities and Exchange Commission Regulation SHO,” TMTG CEO Devin Nunes said in a letter to the Nasdaq.
The letter comes as reports show TMTG as one of the most expensive stocks to short.
“Data made available to use indicate that just four market participants have been responsible for over 60% of the extraordinary volume of DJT shares traded: Citadel Securities, VIRTU Americas, G1 Execution Services, and Jane Street Capital,” TMTG said in a filing.
Citadel shared a response to Benzinga on the accusation by Nunes and TMTG.
“Devin Nunes is the proverbial loser who tries to blame ‘naked short selling’ for his falling stock price. Nunes is exactly the type of person Donald Trump would have fired on The Apprentice,” a spokesperson for Citadel told Benzinga.
The comments on short selling come around the time of the share price milestones needing to be hit, and after the company recently registered to sell shares in the future, including the ones owned by Trump.
Prior to the earnout, Trump owns a 57.6% stake in the company with 78.75 million shares.
Trump’s take in the company was valued at between $5.58 billion and $6.25 billion as the company went public and shares traded between $57.25 to $79.38 in their market debut.
Trump’s stake in the company is currently worth around $2.75 billion, not including the earn-out. Together, the 114.75 million shares would be worth close to $5 billion today.
The $5 billion stake could get closer to getting Trump back on the Bloomberg Billionaires Index of the 500 richest people.
Based on the filing of selling shares in the future, Trump could be looking to cash out a portion of his ownership stake to help pay court fines and fees and to fund his 2024 presidential election campaign.
As previously reported, Trump could maintain control over the company if he sells a majority of his shares thanks to a structure put in place before the merger.
Shares of Trump Media & Technology Group could continue to be volatile after the share offering filing and as Trump’s hush money case captures headlines for the next six weeks.
DJT Price Action: Trump Media & Technology Group shares are down 4% to $34.98 on Monday versus a 52-week trading range of $12.40 to $79.38, which includes the period prior to the SPAC merger being completed.
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