Donald Trump is poised to receive an additional 36 million shares of Trump Media on Tuesday—a so-called “earnout” bonus that’d be worth more than $1 billion at Monday’s closing price.
To officially secure the earnout, the former president needs Trump Media, the parent company of his Truth Social app, to be trading at more than $17.50 per share when the closing bell rings on Tuesday afternoon.
With Trump Media trading at double that amount per share on Monday, it’d take a last-second implosion for Trump to not qualify for the share infusion that will add a significant chunk to his net worth.
Trump already owns 78.75 million shares in the company, which he is the majority shareholder for.
Trump Media has been volatile since it went public last month, at one point trading as high as $80 a share—a price that briefly gave the company a market capitalization of more than $9 billion. That number was particularly staggering given the company’s only stream of revenue, Truth Social, reported a 2023 net loss of $58 million.
Still, Trump Media has proved to be a cash cow for the former president at a time where he needs the extra dough most—with legal fees and judgements against him beginning to add up.
If the earnout shares are added to his existing stock as expected, Trump’s total stake in Trump Media will likely total $4 billion on paper on Tuesday. He can’t take that money to the bank just yet, however, as he was ordered to wait at least six months after Trump Media’s IPO before he’s legally able to sell any shares.
This post was originally published on Daily Beast
