Former President Donald Trump is scoring some major wins this week, starting with the ruling from an appeals court that significantly reduced the bond he needed to pay in his civil fraud case — reduced from $454 million to $175 million — which then led to shares of Digital World Acquisition Corp increasing 5 percent on Monday. The company then announced that it would start trading as DJT starting on Tuesday.
The ruling was handed down after a merger between the shell company and the former president’s social media group, Truth Social, was approved. Could this be the start of a new wave of winning from Trump, and by extension, the American people? We can dream, right?
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The DWAC jump Monday was likely driven mostly by news of the reduced bond. Investors in the company initially feared Trump might try to sell some of his majority stock in order to free up cash if he were required to post a bond north of $400 million.
With the bond reduced to $175 million, the odds that Trump would try to sell his shares or pressure the board to alter the merger’s lock-up provisions both fell significantly.
DWAC shareholders voted Friday to approve the combination between the special purpose acquisition company, or SPAC, and Trump Media & Technology Group, the owner of the social media platform Truth Social.
Shares of the now merged company will be publicly traded on Tuesday under the ticker DJT, which are Trump’s initials.
The debut of the company on public markets could potentially provide the presumptive GOP presidential nominee with a serious and much needed financial boost since he is expected to own 80 million shares, which is estimated to be worth somewhere around $3 billion.
The terms of the new deal state that the former president is not allowed to sell any shares in the company for the next six months. Still, the board of directors is expected to include several individuals close to him, including Donald Trump Jr. and his former trade representative, Robert Lighthizer.
A potential windfall from selling shares could help pay for Trump’s legal bills and damage judgments of over $500 million in three separate cases.
Monday’s rise comes after the stock fell nearly 14% Friday after DWAC shareholders signed off on the merger. The stock has soared 160% this year but has lost about 15% since hitting its 52-week high on Jan. 23.
Trump has had to rely heavily on fundraising this time around with all of the court cases that have been brought against him over the course of the last year. However, the fact that he’s had his judgment in the civil fraud case decreased so dramatically means that he may not be in as much financial trouble as he could have been.
Of course, when the news broke about the reduction of the judgment, liberals were livid, especially the media talking heads who have been working around the clock for many years now to help spin narratives to destroy Trump, his life’s work, and his family.
It’ll be interesting to see what these shares look like in six months.