Is Donald Trump on Track To Becoming The First Trillionaire?

Trump's Truth Social platform soars on the first day of trading on Nasdaq. Now trading under the ticker symbol “DJT,” the stock has soared by over $25 dollars to $75.21 per share, or in other words, a roughly 50% increase compared to its IPO price. Trump owns 58% of the newly public company, which is big news for him valuing his stake at $5.4 billion. 

That means that if DJT were to rise to $12,698 per share, Trump would become the world's first paper trillionaire. 

Ok, enough with the jokes, let's get back to reality.

Although he is $5.4 billion dollars richer on paper, this is still great news for the former president, given his predicaments in the court of law, where he is currently fighting four separate cases, including criminal and civil fights. His legal troubles are becoming hard to track, but as of this moment, Trump is being leveled with a $454 million penalty, including interest, in one of his civil suits; however, he only has to put up around $175 million within the next ten days to stop collections on the rest while he appeals the ruling.

This is great news for Trump as his lawyers recently disclosed that he has failed to obtain the nearly half-billion dollar bond, suggesting he was on the verge of a financial crisis. So now he can just sell his stock in the company and pay off this penalty, right? Well, not so fast…

Trump is still subject to a lockup period, the same lockup period most equity holders have to deal with. This provision is actually a great thing for shareholders of the stock as it makes “pumping-and-dumping” one’s own company shares impossible. Imagine if Donald Trump were to sell his entire ownership stake of 58% in the company today…. well the outlook for the stock wouldn’t look good, likely bankrupting the company and definitely tanking its shares to bottomless pits.

How long does this lock-up period last? 6 Months.

Is there anything he can do about it? No.

Well… it could be possible for the board of directors to alter the lock-up agreement after the deal has closed; however, such a decision would be met with serious legal scrutiny from regulators. The board would have to show that they would be making this change for the benefit of the shareholders, which would be hard to prove given that everyone and their parents know what is going on with Trump’s legal battles.

If Trump really is in financial trouble, then he does need the funds now; however, it seems very improbable that he would be able to see those funds within the next six months. Even after six months have passed, Trump will not be able to unload all of his shares at once as that would tank the stock. If Trump were to sell even a small percentage of the stock after six months, it could be interpreted as him not having faith in his platform, which could further tank the rest of his shares. Long story short, there is no likely scenario where his profit-taking could be seen as a good thing for his platform and the newly public company.

Thats not all.

By the time Trump is even able to take out profits, it might be too late. Multiple analysts have reported that the new stock is likely to see a 95% plunge over the next month as investors have deemed the security a “meme stock” similar to the likes of AMC and Gamestop in the past. 

Only time will tell, but for now, Trump has a pot of gold sitting in his back pocket that he cannot touch. Once Trump’s lockup period is over, he is set to make a massive gain to his liquid net worth and likely pay off most of his court dues.