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Donald Trump can sell his Trump Media stock soon, potentially scoring a huge payout.
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The lockup period for Trump Media shares ends September 25, or earlier if some conditions are met.
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Trump’s stake in Trump Media is worth about $2 billion, over half his total net worth.
Donald Trump is just days away from being eligible for a huge payout.
The potential source of the wealth is the Republican presidential nominee’s company Trump Media, which owns his platform, Truth Social. The entity first began trading on the Nasdaq in March under the ticker DJT.
As part of a “lockup agreement,” which is common practice in initial public offerings, Trump has been barred from selling his shares in the company for 180 days.
That countdown clock is now ticking down.
The lockup period, as explained in the company’s regulatory filings, is scheduled to end on September 25, but it could also end as early as September 20 if certain conditions are met.
To be freed up on the earlier date, the share price needs to remain above $12 for 20 trading days within the 30-day period that began on August 23. Despite the stock falling to around $16 this past week — its lowest point on record — that condition has been met. Shares have plummeted 60% since mid-July.
Trump owns almost 60% of the company, and with the company’s current valuation at around $3.3 billion, that means his stake totals about $2 billion.
His stake in the company makes up more than half of his total net worth, according to Forbes, which estimates Trump is worth about $3.7 billion.
It’s not clear if Trump intends to sell his stock or not, and in an SEC filing, Trump Media explains that if a large shareholder even indicates plans to sell, it could negatively affect the share prices.
“These sales, or the perception in the market that the holders of a large number of shares intend to sell shares, could reduce the market price” of the stock, the filing says.
There’s also the matter of Trump not wanting to cash in his holdings with DJT stock at record lows. In recent months the share price has been correlated with Trump’s polling numbers, so any sort of recovery in election odds could lead to a stock rebound — and a more attractive payout package.
And on Friday, Trump insisted he wouldn’t sell off.
“No, I’m not selling. No, I love it,” Trump said during a press conference in California. That sent shares briefly skyrocketing.
Still, Trump could probably use the money right now.
Earlier this year, Judge Arthur Engoron ordered Trump and executives at the Trump Organization to pay out $454 million plus interest in their New York civil fraud trial. So far, Trump has paid $175 million for an appeal bond, but if he loses his appeal, he’ll be on the hook for hundreds of millions more.
On top of that, Trump had already burned through $100 million in lawyer’s fees by March this year, according to a report by The New York Times.
Trump Media has had a tumultuous ride since entering the public market. With help from meme stock mania, the company’s stock soared to $70 a share when it first went public, shooting Trump Media’s market cap to $9 billion and raising the Republican nominee’s net worth to $7 billion.
The company boasted an eye-watering valuation despite reporting paltry earnings and high expenditures.
But Trump Media’s stock has been in free-fall ever since. And although Trump insisted he won the debate against Kamala Harris, the market resoundingly reacted as if he lost, making it ultimately responsible for DJT’s last leg down to record lows.
Read the original article on Business Insider
Source: finance.yahoo.com