Stock in Donald Trump’s social-media company surged in its Nasdaq debut on Tuesday, sending the former president’s on-paper net worth soaring.
The Trump Media & Technology Group, the owner of Truth Social, began trading under the stock ticker “DJT” Tuesday morning and increased by more than 30 percent by midday, up to nearly $70 per share. The company completed its $300 million merger with Digital World Acquisition Corp on Monday and TMTG replaced Digital World on the Nasdaq exchange.
Digital World is a SPAC corporation, a publicly traded shell company designed to be acquired by another firm. Shares of Digital World spiked on Monday ahead of the debut of TMTG. Truth Social is valued at roughly $5 billion despite suffering financial losses and having only 5 million active users, according to CBS News. The vast majority of the company’s investors are retail investors and the valuation for TMTG does not appear to be based on its financials.
Trump’s wealth soared to an estimated $6.4 billion on Monday because of his 60 percent stake in Truth Social, Bloomberg calculated. The financial windfall placed Trump among the world’s 500 richest people and will likely allow him to post the $175 million bond necessary to appeal his civil-fraud case in New York.
“We built this company to protect the American people’s voices and their freedom,” said TMTG CEO Devin Nunes, a former Republican congressman from California. “Having transformed into a public company, Truth Social remains committed to maintaining and vehemently defending a digital space for free expression.”
Trump and his business partners launched Truth Social after Twitter, now known as X, banned the former president in the wake of the January 6 Capitol riot. X owner Elon Musk restored Trump’s account last year but the former president continues to post his ramblings on Truth.
“I LOVE TRUTH SOCIAL, I LOVE THE TRUTH!” Trump said on Truth Social Tuesday morning.
On Monday, an appellate court reduced Trump’s bond from $464 million to $175 million and gave him an extra ten days to post the bond. It was unclear if Trump would be able to post the full $464 million total by Monday, his deadline for doing so. New York Attorney General Letitia James (D.) indicated she would begin to seize Trump’s assets if he could not post the initial bond on time.
Trump said he would be able to post the reduced bond before the ten-day extension concludes and bragged that he could use cash to do so. He is appealing the $355 million fraud judgement by New York judge Arthur Engoron connected to his real-estate business.