Trump awarded 36 million more Trump Media shares worth $1.8 billion after hitting price benchmarks

WASHINGTON (AP) — Former President Donald Trump has secured an additional $1.8 billion worth of shares in Trump Media, according to a regulatory filing this week.

Based on the company’s stock hitting certain price benchmarks, Trump was awarded an additional 36 million shares in the company that owns his social media platform Truth Social. That brings his total ownership to more than 114 million shares, which based on Wednesday morning’s stock price, are worth $5.7 billion.

Trump, the presumptive Republican presidential nominee, now owns close to two-thirds of the company’s outstanding shares.

Trump Media & Technology Group shares have surged in the past couple of weeks and closed Tuesday at $49.93. Trump only needed the stock to be above $17.50 each for 20 consecutive trading days to secure the new shares.

Trump Media got its place on the Nasdaq after merging with a company called Digital World Acquisition Corp., a special purpose acquisition company, or SPAC. These type of mergers offer young companies quicker and easier routes to getting their shares trading publicly.

On March 26, the first day of trading after Trump Media closed the merger with Digital World Acquisition, shares in the newly combined company reached nearly $80 each in intraday trading before closing at $57.99.

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