Entangled in legal troubles while the campaign for the November presidential election is in full swing, Donald Trump will be able to look at his portfolio for consolation. The former US president will receive millions of additional shares of his media group, valued at more than a billion dollars at the current price, under a clause satisfied on Tuesday.
Trump Media and Technology Group’s (TMTG) IPO document filed with the US securities regulator, the SEC, provided that additional securities would be issued if the price remained at a certain level for 20 trading sessions over a period 30 market days.
A stock on the stock market since March 26
Three thresholds were set, each triggering the issue of a certain number of shares if the conditions were met. However, the share price largely exceeded the highest threshold during the first twenty days of trading of TMTG, which entered the stock market on March 26. This should result in the issuance of 40 million new securities, including 36 million attributed to Donald Trump.
At the closing price on Tuesday evening, which corresponded to the 20th session since the IPO, the value of the shares to be received by the former tenant of the White House amounts to 1.17 billion dollars.
According to an updated document published in mid-April by the SEC, Donald Trump’s participation following the issuance of these new shares would amount to 64.9% of the capital, for a total valuation of 3.7 billion dollars, still at the current price. This valuation is related to the company’s turnover, which only reached $4 million in 2023, for a net loss of $58 million.
A particularly volatile price
The price of TMTG, whose symbol on the New York Nasdaq Stock Exchange is DJT, the initials of the former president, has fallen by almost 59% since its peak on the day of the introduction. Very volatile, it has nevertheless regained more than 44% over the past week.
On Thursday, the general director of TMTG, former Republican parliamentarian Devin Nunes, sent a letter to Nasdaq to denounce possible price manipulation carried out by hedge funds, notably Citadel Securities and Jane Street Capital. The influential boss of Citadel, Ken Griffin, described Devin Nunes as a “loser”, accusing him of wanting to unduly blame hedge funds for the fall of the stock.