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By: Hadassa Kalatizadeh
Donald J. Trump is back on top—and not just politically.
Former President Trump has been troubled with a shaky monetary state after being put on the hook to post a $500 million bail for his NY fraud lawsuit. On Monday, when his entire business empire may have been in crisis, it ended up turning into the former president’s single-greatest day gain on record.
As reported by Crain’s NY, first, a state appeals court awarded him a lifeline, complying with his request to reduce the bond.
His bail was cut to $175 million — an amount Trump says he’ll be able to cover. About the same time, his social media company, Trump Media & Technology Group, wrapped up a 29-month-long merger process. The merger officially makes Mr. Trump, 77, the owner of shares worth billions of dollars. In all, his personal net worth baloon by over $4 billion—to roughly $6.4 billion. For the first time ever, Trump will be on the world’s top 500 wealthiest people in the world, based on the Bloomberg Billionaires Index.
Previously, his fortune had peaked at $3.1 billion– largely consisting of real estate properties, the value of which may have been inflated to get better his terms on loans, as per the NY Fraud case.
Monday’s bail deadline had put his business in peril because his assets are not liquid and he may have had to sell his real estate holdings to be able to post the $454 million bond– which is a bond for 120% of the judgment while he appeals the case. New York Attorney General Letitia James may have have gotten the chance to seize his assets if he couldn’t pay. His team of lawyers had argued that it was “unconstitutional” and unreasonable to have him payout, for hold in escrow, the entire 120 percent of judgment, even though he was still appealing the case.
He had also said that immediately selling his real estate assets at a fire-sale price would be unfair because he wouldn’t be able to buy it back later at a similar price if he won the appeal. On Monday, when the state appeals court slashed the amount payable, Mr. Trump vowed to quickly post cash or a bond to cover the lowered amount. Still, even despite his windfall from Trump Media’s merger with Digital World Acquisition Corp., he still can’t cash out on those shares, for about six months.
Per Crain’s, completion of the merger meant jumping through hoops including multiple last-minute lawsuits, as well as an investigation and settlement with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission. After the merger, the DWAC shares closed Monday at $49.95, up around 185% since the start of the year. Trump’s 58% stake in the company is valued at about $3.9 billion, based on that price.
The shares are now included in Bloomberg’s calculation of Trump’s net worth. The day before, his stake had been valued at only $22.5 million, based on his most recent financial disclosure form.
Mr. Trump’s newly updated net worth of $6.4 billion is based on ethics disclosures required for presidential candidates, and public filings tied to key real estate holdings and staff reporting.
A representative for Trump did not reply to Crain’s request for comment.
