After another double-digit percentage increase, the parent company society of truth The company's market value approaches $9 billion, a windfall for insiders who were awarded company stock.
The biggest beneficiary is Trump, the company's largest shareholder, whose shares are worth more than $5 billion on paper.Regulatory filings show that while no other shareholder has a comparable trump mediaExecutives have seen their net worths increase by millions of dollars this week, in some cases.
Devin Nunes
Trump Media investment: More than $7 million
A former Republican congressman from California, he became CEO of Trump Media in 2022.
philip juan
Over $30 million The former fitness company executive is Trump Media's chief financial officer and owns the largest stake among the company's executives.
Vladimir Nowacki
Approximately 3 million dollars
He is the company's chief technology officer and was previously an executive at Cosmic Development, a Canadian IT support services company.
Andrew Northwall
Over $1 million
He is the chief operating officer (COO) and former executive of the social networking service Parler.
scott grave
Over $1 million
The general counsel previously served as acting assistant secretary for policy at the Department of Homeland Security, serving President Trump.
Eric Swider
Over $12 million
The CEO of the public shell company known as Digital World, which merged with Trump Media this week. He currently serves on Trump Media's seven-member board of directors.
The bullish stance on Trump media is driven by the enthusiasm of individual investors and Trump supporters, not investment firms or hedge funds. The company's high valuation stands in contrast to its relatively small business, which had revenue of $3.3 million in the first nine months of last year.
Other major shareholders include the original promoter of the merger agreement.
Digital World and its initial public offering's original sponsor, investment firm ARC Global, own more than $700 million worth of stock. ARC Global is led by Patrick Orlando, former CEO of Digital World.
ARC Global has a variety of investors, but none of them are publicly disclosed. However, Digital World's regulatory filing in August revealed that non-U.S. nationals owned about 17% of the company's stock. The filing says ARC Global includes investors from Guatemala, El Salvador, Brazil, Peru and Mexico.
Mr. Orlando was at one time a senior advisor to Hong Kong-based financial firm ARC Group, which advised Digital World when it formed the special acquisition vehicle. It is not clear whether any of ARC Group's management has any financial interest in ARC Global.
United Atlantic Ventures owns approximately $500 million worth of Trump Media stock. The company is run by Wes Moss and Andy Litinsky, former contestants on President Trump's reality show The Apprentice, and Litinsky was hired in early 2021 shortly after leaving the White House. He approached the former president about starting a social media company. They were early participants in the talks that ultimately led to the merger of Trump Media and Digital World.
Orlando, Lichinsky and Moss are fighting in court over their stake in Trump Media. Mr. Orlando and the shell company's sponsor group have the right to acquire more shares, he said. Mr. Lichinsky and Mr. Moss filed a lawsuit accusing Trump Media of trying to reduce their stake.
Both lawsuits are pending in Delaware Chancery Court.
Mr. Trump and other major shareholders of Trump Media are prohibited from selling their stock or pledging it as collateral for loans for at least six months. Trump Media's board of directors, which is filled with Trump supporters, including the president's eldest son, Donald Trump Jr., could be exempt from those restrictions.
Significant stock sales by Donald Trump and other major shareholders could cause Trump Media's stock price to fall, reducing the value of sellers' holdings.
Major investors and institutions that own less than 5% of a listed company are not required to disclose stock sales until 45 days after the end of a quarter. That means major institutions that traded Digital World and Trump Media stocks in the past few weeks won't have to disclose their holdings until mid-May.
As of the end of December, the largest institutional investor in Digital World stocks was Susquehanna International Group, a Wall Street trading firm owned by billionaire investor and major Republican donor Jeffrey Yass. . His company owned about 2% of Digital World's shares at the end of last year.
It's unclear whether Mr. Susquehanna still owns any stock in the company that became Trump Media. Susquehanna said Trump Media „has no financial interest whatsoever“ in its role as a market maker facilitating stock trading.
This article was originally published in The New York Times.