Trump’s social media venture soared as much as 59% in its trading debut on Tuesday delivering a potential windfall of billions of dollars to the former president’s net worth.
Trading in Truth Media and Technology Group, the company behind the Truth Social app, was so frantic that it was briefly halted at one point. It’s trading under the stock symbol DJT, or short for Donald J. Trump.
The surge in shares values a company that had just over $3 million in sales and lost nearly $50 million through the first nine months of last year in the billions of dollars. Trump Media was valued at over $9 billion at one point though it fluctuated depending on the share price which continued to experience heavy trading.
The company also avoided the heavy regulatory oversight that comes with an initial public offering, opting to list instead in the Nasdaq exchange by merging with an already listed shell company, in a process called a backdoor listing.
But the spectacular trading debut of his social media company provides an incredible windfall to President Trump at a time when he’s facing a myriad of legal challenges.
Trump is now in the Bloomberg Billionaires Index
Bloomberg estimated ahead of the opening of trading on Tuesday that Trump’s net worth had increased more than $4 billion, propelling the former president into the ranks of the 500 wealthiest people on the influential Bloomberg Billionaires Index for the first time.
Trump’s real net worth has always been disputed however, making it hard to get a true sense of how much he’s actually worth.
Individual investors — many of them likely devoted Trump followers — are believed to be the most active buyers of the stock, according to analysts.
Though Trump stands to gain billions now since he owns more than 50% of Truth Media, he can’t sell his shares for another six months — unless he’s able to renegotiate his current agreement.
Trump must post $175 million as a bond in a civil fraud case in less than two weeks.
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