TheTruth Behind Trump’s Fortune

THE FORMER PRESIDENT’S LEGAL WOES HAVE TAKEN A HALF-BILLION-DOLLAR BITE OUT OF HIS NET WORTH. MEME-STOCK TRADERS MIGHT JUST BAIL HIM OUT.

Cash, as the saying goes, is king— and Donald Trump doesn’t have enough of it. Forbes estimates the former president has about $413 million in liquid assets. (Trump’s math, as usual, stretches higher: “almost five hundred million dollars.”) The problem? He’s on the hook for more than $540 million in legal judgments from two court battles in New York state and has been scrambling to secure bonds while he appeals. This new half-billiondollar liability is the primary reason Trump is poorer this year, worth an estimated $2.3 billion, down from $2.5 billion in 2023. He tumbles more than 200 spots in the World’s Billionaires ranks, to No. 1,438. With Trump vowing to fight in court, it could be months, or years, before this hole in his balance sheet is resolved.

But Truth Social could set him free. Forbes bumped its estimate of his stake in Trump Media & Technology Group, which operates his Twitter knockoff, to $410 million this year, from $180 million in 2023. The new valuation is based not on the business itself—which generated a paltry $4.6 million in revenue over the past four quarters, less than half that of an average Cheesecake Factory restaurant—but on what institutional investors paid in February to get in on the MAGA mania surrounding the venture.

Then shareholders voted in March, after Forbes locked in net worths for this year’s list, to complete Trump Media & Technology Group’s long-delayed plan to go public. The gamblers who get their kicks throwing money at meme stocks have been trading shares at prices that value Trump’s stake at over $3 billion, which would more than double his net worth. If the memers and Trump worshipers keep the stock in the stratosphere for six more months, when Trump’s lockup provisions are set to expire, he might be able to cash out for billions, alleviating his financial headaches. Another possibility: It could all come crashing down like a house of cards.