Benzinga - by Bibhu Pattnaik, Benzinga Staff Writer.
Former President Donald Trump needs immense cash to pay more than $450 million in legal bills.
But the quadruple-indicted GOP presidential candidate is now looking at liquidating the stock he owns at Digital World Acquisition Corp. (NASDAQ: DWAC), a so-called "blank check" company that — as of Friday — will become part of a merger to take the Truth Social parent company, Trump Media & Technology Group (TMTG), public.
But the situation is complicated. First, the DWAC share price plummeted by nearly 14% in the following hours and closed Friday afternoon at roughly $36.94 per share.
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The sharp decline, which had previously reached a 52-week-high, could potentially lower the estimated value of Trump's majority stake in the newly formed Trump Media.
Second, Trump maintains at least a 58% stake in TMTG, but is restricted from selling his shares for six months.
However, the new board of directors, which includes his son, Donald Trump Jr., could revisit this restriction and potentially allow the twice-impeached Trump to liquidate shares sooner to cover his legal costs.
This possibility and the recent stock performance could further impact the company's market stability.
Further complicating matters is the fact that TMTG's co-founders — Andy Litinsky and Wes Moss — are suing Trump for diluting the value of their stock shares.
TMTG is set to trade under the ticker symbol DJT (Trump's initials) on the NASDAQ, a nod to Trump's previous publicly traded venture, Trump Hotels & Casino Resorts, which faced financial difficulties and was eventually delisted.
Financial pressures remain a critical hurdle for Trump to overcome as he aims to campaign for the November election.
President Joe Biden, meanwhile, is reportedly set to receive up to $1 billion in pledges from Democratic-leaning groups as part of the re-election effort.
Price Action: DWAC's stock surged to a 52-week high of $58.72 per share on Jan. 23, as the long-awaited merger seemed imminent.
However, as trading began on Friday morning, just before the shareholder vote, the stock had dropped to $44.20 per share. In after-hours trading, the stock slightly recovered, reaching $38.55 per share — 12.7% lower than the opening price on Friday.
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This content was partially produced with the help of AI tools and was reviewed and published by Benzinga editors.
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