- An appeals court reduced his verdict to $175 million
- The value of his stake in Digital World Acquisition has soared
- “I have a lot of money,” Trump told reporters on Monday
Donald Trump’s net worth is skyrocketing even as he’s forced to raise piles of cash to pay off court judgments — now climbing the ranks of at least one coveted billionaire.
The former president’s net worth has risen to $6.4 billion following last week’s announcement that shareholders of Digital World Acquisition have voted the special purpose acquisition company to merge with the Trump firm that owns his Truth Social platform.
After a jump in the stock price, Trump’s net worth has increased by an astonishing $4 billion – on top of his golf, real estate and branding empires.
The timing couldn’t have been better for Trump. He says he has nearly $500 million in cash and has 10 days to raise $175 million after a New York appeals court threw out a $454 trial court judgment against him.
Donald Trump’s net worth skyrockets even as he prepares to pay $175 million after an appeals court intervened in his fraud case
Even that smaller amount can be a sticking point. Trump recently posted a $91 million bond in the defamation case against E. Jean Carrol. He must pay both amounts pending his appeal or judgment against him.
Trump already has an empire that includes golf courses in Florida and Scotland, plus buildings like the Trump Tower and 40 Wall Street, where Trump held a wild press conference on Monday where he said he would use cash, securities or a bond to raise the $175 to pay. million amount.
Even with that spending, Bloomberg added Trump list of the 500 richest people in the world.
The main driver was the share price of the merged company, which will be publicly traded on the NASDAQ starting Tuesday.
Trump’s real estate empire includes 40 Wall Street and other properties in Manhattan
Trump also owns golf properties, including the Trump International Golf Course West Palm Beach Florida
Shares in DWAC traded at nearly $50 a share on Monday, a 190 percent jump since the beginning of the year, bringing Trump’s 58 percent stake to about $3.9 billion.
Unless he gets a waiver from an administration full of Trump loyalists, Trump would be prohibited from selling his stock until the end of a six-month period, so he can’t rely on the money to pay his court judgment.
Trump has long struggled to move up the ranks and stay on the Forbes 400 list, and his New York fraud case included testimony that he inflated valuations to get preferential treatment.
Forbes on Monday estimated Trump’s net worth at $2.6 billion, based on a September 2023 estimate of his social media and branding activities at $160 million.
“I have a lot of money,” Trump told reporters on Monday. “You know that because you looked at my statement.”
Trump posted last week that he had $500 million in cash, although his letters in a recent filing overturning the court’s ruling said he was unable to obtain a bond.