Former President Trump is eyeing to sell his social media platform Truth Social amid the looming deadline for him to pay a $464 million bond to the state of New York in his civil fraud case.
On Friday, shareholders in Digital World Acquisition Corp. approved a merger with Truth Social— potentially making him $3.5 billion richer.
The news comes as New York Attorney General Letitia James moved to seize Trump’s assets as well as Mar-a-Lago if he is unable to get the money to pay his multi-million dollar bond.
This means that Trump’s private firm— Trump Media & Technology Group— can trade on the stock market under the stock ticker “DJT” as early as next week. The former president will own about 79 million shares in the company should it merge, which is currently at $41 per share.
However, Trump will not be able to receive the money he makes in his stake until six months after the merger— making it difficult to pay the bond in cash before Monday’s deadline.
The vote comes roughly two years after the special purpose acquisition company announced plans to merge with Trump Media and Technology Group.
Turning Point USA founder Charlie Kirk presented an idea that Trump to “seek a waiver to liquidate his stock before the end of a lockup period in order to use the cash to secure a $450 million bond in the Letitia James.”
🚨BREAKING: Shareholders have just voted to make Trump Media & Technology Group, the parent company of Truth Social, a publicly traded company. This could net Trump a windfall of $4 billion. The President would need to seek a waiver to liquidate his stock before the end of a…
— Charlie Kirk (@charliekirk11) March 22, 2024
On Thursday, Trump's lawyer Clifford Robert sent a letter to the Appellate Division of New York’s Supreme Court, arguing that James’ demand of forcing Trump to post nearly a $500 million bond in the full amount to appeal is “unreasonable, unjust, and unconstitutional.”
Critics warn that if James seizes assets of Trump’s, it will backfire. Frank Luntz told CNN that the chances of the former president being elected in November will only go up, arguing that Trump will “go up in the polls just like he went up every single time they indicted him."