Trump Media, the parent company of social media platform Truth Social, is likely to become a publicly traded company after the majority of shareholders of the Digital World Acquisition voted late last week to acquire it. The company will be renamed Trump Media & Technology Group and could begin trading as early as next week.
If the company goes public, Donald Trump would have at least a 58% stake in the company, which is worth almost $3 billion. However, he would be barred from selling or transferring his shares for at least six months unless the new company grants him an exception. Trump could get a loan, backed by the value of the shares, to ward off his pressing financial problems, such as his New York fraud penalty, but the amount lent by the bank would likely be much less than the shares are worth on paper.
When the news went public on Friday, shares in Digital World—a shell business created specifically to buy the company and take it public—decreased 13% and ended the day at $36.94. The merger of Digital World and Trump Media will provide the latter organization more than $200 million in cash to use for growing and expanding the company.
