Donald Trump's Net Worth at $6.5 Billion, Despite Legal Woes

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Donald Trump has entered Bloomberg’s list of top 500 global billionaires after Truth Social became part of a publicly-traded company. The former President's net worth has risen to $6.5 billion in spite of everything going on in his life, including a number of outstanding charges against him.

On Monday, Trump Media & Technology Group Corp. merged with Digital World Acquisition Corp. Trump Media runs the social media platform Truth Social and has now taken Digital World's place on the Nasdaq stock exchange.

Shares of Trump's social media company jumped more than 35% on the first day of trading on the Nasdaq , gaining $13.01 to close at $49.95. The stock created such a frenzy on the first day of trading that Nasdaq briefly halted its trading just two minutes after it began for the day.

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On Tuesday, as of 1:10 p.m. ET, ‘DJT’ was trading at $71.86, up more than 40%, catapulting the value of Trump's holdings — 78.75 million shares in the company. That’s good news for the beleaguered former president and for small-time investors who bought shares to show loyalty for the former president or those simply hoping to cash in on the frenzy.

Donald Trump now among the 500 richest people in the world

Following the Truth Social merger, Trump now ranks among the 500 richest people in the world.
Trump joined the Bloomberg Billionaires Index for the first time with a net worth of $6.5 billion.
Trump launched Truth Social in February 2022, one year after he was banned from major social platforms, including Facebook and X (formerly Twitter).
Truth Social currently has around 5 million users, well below the traffic of social media sites such as Facebook, Instagram, YouTube, TikTok and X.

New York fraud lawsuit

The increase in Trump’s net worth comes on the heels of a multi-million dollar bond requirement from the New York fraud lawsuit. He was initially required to pay $464 million, but a state appeals court tossed Trump a lifeline when it slashed the amount he’d have to post to $175 million to be paid in ten days. The $175 million is an amount he says he’ll cover very quickly. In a March 22nd post on Truth Social, Trump said he currently has almost $500 million in cash.

Meanwhile, a Mitchell-MIRS poll released Friday shows Trump with a 3% lead in blue state Michigan, over President Biden, his Democratic rival.

For the past 18+ years, Kathryn has highlighted the humanity in personal finance by shaping stories that identify the opportunities and obstacles in managing a person's finances. All the same, she’ll jump on other equally important topics if needed. Kathryn graduated with a degree in Journalism and lives in Duluth, Minnesota. She joined Kiplinger in 2023 as a contributor.