On March 25, local time, Trump successfully grabbed the life-saving straw handed by an appeals court in New York.
The court agreed to reduce Mr. Trump's bond for financial fraud to $175 million from $454 million ($464 million if you include fines for his two adult sons) and give him a 10-day deadline to pay.
Outside the courthouse, when Trump was asked by a reporter how to pay the security deposit, Trump replied domineeringly: CASH!
CASH！
What a sonorous and powerful answer, rich Trump is domineering!
I thought that Comrade Jianguo could breathe a sigh of relief now, how could he make up a deposit of 175 million within 10 days.
But I never expected that in just 2 days, Trump would do a big job!
caught this pouring of wealth
Under the banner of "Make America Great Again (MAGA)", Trump not only achieved the expansion of his business territory, but also successfully landed on the US stock market and became the founder of a public company.
After 29 months of meticulous preparation and trading, Trump Media Technology Group (TMTG), the parent company of the social platform "Truth Social" he founded, finally completed its merger with Digital World Acquisition Corporation (DWAC) and officially listed on the NASDAQ exchange on March 26 under the ticker symbol DJT.
After the U.S. stock market opened, DJT's stock price performed strongly, rising as much as 58%, and the stock price climbed to $78.8 at one point. However, due to excessive stock price volatility, DJT briefly halted trading, and finally closed up 16.1%, and continued to rise 6.05% after hours.
It is understood that Trump owns 58% of the company's shares, about 79 million shares. Based on the daily closing price of $57.99, his stake holdings are valued at $4.5 billion.
The 77-year-old's net worth has now soared to $7 billion, and such "achievements" have also made him unprecedentedly brilliant, becoming one of the 500 richest people in the world for the first time in his life.
Whether the windfall can be safely pocketed
However, despite the skyrocketing net worth, Trump will not be able to cash in immediately unless the company's board of directors changes the stock "lock-up" clause, which prohibits company insiders from selling newly issued shares for six months after going public.
If the board agrees to Trump's right to sell his shares early, that would solve all of Trump's funding problems.
As for whether Trump can pocket this windfall, let's wait and see.
Trump's scythe
From a financial perspective, TMTG has not performed well in the past three quarters, with total revenue of less than $3.5 million and a loss of $49 million.
However, for many investors, these financial figures don't seem to be the focus of their attention.
It is not difficult to see that investors' investment in TMTG is more of a political statement than a purely financial investment.
It can be said that TMTG has become a "pre-election betting tool", and the rise and fall of its stock price is also closely related to Trump's political prospects.
However, according to S3 Partners, a well-known financial data provider, short interest in DJT shares is quite significant, accounting for about 11% of the outstanding shares.
In addition, there is a lot of evidence that many buyers are also chasing the rise and fall, and if the wind is not in the right direction, they will withdraw before the bubble bursts.
One investor posted on Reddit's popular stock channel, WallStreetBets, that "the stock will fall to $2.50 after the merger." Another investor suggested that anyone who holds the stock for a long time is a "MAGA pick-up" who will only profit Trump in the end.
In addition, there are two factors that cannot be ignored that indicate that the Trump company may be in trouble, putting shareholders at considerable risk of loss.
1. The profitability of the Truth social networking app is worrying. The app has no significant advantage over competitors like X and Facebook, other than the appeal of Trump himself, and is currently in the red.
2. Trump owns 58% of the company, and as the stock price skyrockets, he may sell the stock to cash out.
3. The company is Trump's cronies, if other listed companies have such a situation, it will bring huge losses to shareholders, but for Trump's company, this is a sickle to cut leeks, and shareholders are just his tools.
喜忧参半
For Trump, who has been in an eventful season, he has been busy lately.
In addition to his current civil restitution, he is the first former president in U.S. history to be criminally prosecuted.
He is involved in four criminal cases, including two federal lawsuits and two state lawsuits, involving the payment of "hush money" to actresses before the 2016 presidential election, mishandling classified documents after leaving the presidency, and interfering in the 2020 presidential election, which have brought him to a total of 91 counts.
At the end of March 2023, Bragg, the lead prosecutor in the case, indicted Trump on 34 felony charges, alleging that he had entrusted Cohen to pay $130,000 in "hush money" to star Daniels so that the peach scandal would not affect his 2016 presidential campaign, and then falsified business records to return Cohen's advance in installments in the name of "attorney's fees" to cover up his violations of New York state and federal election regulations.
A New York judge on March 25 rejected the lawyers' request to further postpone the hush money trial and ordered the jury selection to begin on April 15.
In other words, in three weeks, Trump will become the first former U.S. president to face a criminal trial.
It also means that we are likely to see a former president and candidate who is highly likely to re-enter the White House become a feloon.
When the media asked him whether he would testify in court in the hush money case, he said: There is no problem in testifying!
As always, Trump said: "This is a witch hunt, this is a hoax." ”
Can the king's good fortune continue?
Even if Trump is able to get out of the hush money case, he will have another case of immunity pending him.
That is the Georgia "attempted comeback case" in which Trump allegedly interfered in the 2020 presidential election. The prosecutor indicted Trump under Georgia law on charges of racketeering, among other crimes, which typically target organized criminals.
I don't know if it's because I understand Wang's fate or because the political circle in the United States is too chaotic, and it was shelved because the chief prosecutor and the prosecutor in the same case were exposed to peachy news.
But in this case, even if Trump wins, it will be difficult for him to use presidential immunity to self-pardon for state-level criminal prosecutions.
It is worth mentioning that Trump Hotels and Casino Resorts went public under the symbol DJT in 1995 and filed for bankruptcy protection and was delisted from the New York Stock Exchange in 2004.
The new company TMTG is also listed under the code DJT, and it seems that fate is still telling something.