04-16-2024, 08:39 PM
Fingers crossed for it to hit zero in the after hours...
https://www.marketwatch.com/story/cha-ching-trump-on-track-for-1-billion-stock-bonus-while-outside-investors-lose-up-to-50-601a66ce
Shares in Trump Media & Technology Group, the parent company of the Twitter knockoff Truth Social, began trading under a ticker symbol matching the Republican former president’s initials DJT, -14.17% after being absorbed by the blank-check company Digital World Acquisition Corp. on March 26. After an initial wave of enthusiasm, “DJT” shares have been in a tailspin. They hit a postmerger low below $30 on Friday — down from the mid-$60s in the heady days after the deal closed — and were more recently changing hands at around $31, down 3% on the day and 23% on the week.
Outside investors are nursing losses potentially exceeding a billion dollars in aggregate...
What about Trump? Despite the mayhem, he’s on track for a big payday.
First, there are the 79 million shares he already owns. They effectively cost him nothing and are worth $2.4 billion even at their rapidly deflating price.
But, astonishingly, Trump’s likely windfall also includes a massive stock bonus that he is still on track to receive — even though the stock’s performance so far has been disastrous.
At current prices, this bonus would be worth more than $1 billion.
It’s all in the fine print of the prospectus. Trump stands to be given up to 36 million extra shares as long as the “dollar volume-weighted average price” of the stock exceeds certain very low thresholds during pretty much any 20-day period after the merger was completed.
Those threshold prices? Just $12.50, $15 and $17.50 a share.
...Critically, Trump will get the bonus even if the stock keeps sinking and outside investors who bought into the stock at higher prices keep losing money. His deal is based on the average price across 20 days, rather than the price at the end of the period. Even better for him: It isn’t even based on a simple average but on an average price weighted toward the days with the biggest trading volumes.
Most of those days are in the rear-view mirror. About 30% of all the trading volume in “DJT” to date took place on the day the merger deal closed, when the price ranged between $62 and $72. As a result, the dollar volume-weighted average price over the stock’s first 12 days of trading remains well north of $50 — despite the recent collapse.
Thanks to this clever trick, Trump is now all but guaranteed to qualify for his bonus by the end of this month, no matter how much further the stock falls.
https://www.marketwatch.com/story/cha-ching-trump-on-track-for-1-billion-stock-bonus-while-outside-investors-lose-up-to-50-601a66ce
Shares in Trump Media & Technology Group, the parent company of the Twitter knockoff Truth Social, began trading under a ticker symbol matching the Republican former president’s initials DJT, -14.17% after being absorbed by the blank-check company Digital World Acquisition Corp. on March 26. After an initial wave of enthusiasm, “DJT” shares have been in a tailspin. They hit a postmerger low below $30 on Friday — down from the mid-$60s in the heady days after the deal closed — and were more recently changing hands at around $31, down 3% on the day and 23% on the week.
Outside investors are nursing losses potentially exceeding a billion dollars in aggregate...
What about Trump? Despite the mayhem, he’s on track for a big payday.
First, there are the 79 million shares he already owns. They effectively cost him nothing and are worth $2.4 billion even at their rapidly deflating price.
But, astonishingly, Trump’s likely windfall also includes a massive stock bonus that he is still on track to receive — even though the stock’s performance so far has been disastrous.
At current prices, this bonus would be worth more than $1 billion.
It’s all in the fine print of the prospectus. Trump stands to be given up to 36 million extra shares as long as the “dollar volume-weighted average price” of the stock exceeds certain very low thresholds during pretty much any 20-day period after the merger was completed.
Those threshold prices? Just $12.50, $15 and $17.50 a share.
...Critically, Trump will get the bonus even if the stock keeps sinking and outside investors who bought into the stock at higher prices keep losing money. His deal is based on the average price across 20 days, rather than the price at the end of the period. Even better for him: It isn’t even based on a simple average but on an average price weighted toward the days with the biggest trading volumes.
Most of those days are in the rear-view mirror. About 30% of all the trading volume in “DJT” to date took place on the day the merger deal closed, when the price ranged between $62 and $72. As a result, the dollar volume-weighted average price over the stock’s first 12 days of trading remains well north of $50 — despite the recent collapse.
Thanks to this clever trick, Trump is now all but guaranteed to qualify for his bonus by the end of this month, no matter how much further the stock falls.