Shares of the social media company owned by former President Donald J. Trump continued to rise on Wednesday, extending the gains in its first official session on the Nasdaq the day before.
After another double-digit rate of profit, its parent company Truth Social approached $9 billion in market value, a windfall for insiders who awarded shares in the company.
The biggest beneficiary is Mr. Trump, the company’s largest shareholder, whose stake is worth more than $5 billion on paper. No other shareholders come close, according to regulatory filings, but several Trump Media executives have seen their net worth swell this week, in some cases by several million dollars.
Devin Nunes
Trump Media stake: Over $7 million
The former Republican congressman from California who became CEO of Trump Media in 2022.
Phillip Johan
More than 30 million dollars
Former fitness company executive who serves as Trump Media’s CFO and has the most ownership among the company’s leaders.
Vladimir Nowatsky
About 3 million dollars
The company’s Chief Technology Officer, formerly an executive at Cosmic Development, a Canadian IT support services company.
Andrew Northwall
Over $1 million
The chief operating officer who was a former executive at Parler, the social networking service.
Scott Glabe
Over $1 million
The general counsel, previously acting undersecretary for policy at the Department of Homeland Security serving Mr. Trump.
Eric Swinder
More than 12 million dollars
The CEO of the public shell company known as Digital World that merged with Trump Media this week. he is now a member of Trump Media’s seven-member board of directors.
The optimism surrounding Trump Media is driven by the enthusiasm of individual investors and Trump supporters, rather than investment firms and hedge funds. The company’s high valuation contrasts with its relatively small business, with revenue of $3.3 million in the first nine months of last year.
Other principal shareholders include the original proponents of the merger agreement.
The original sponsor of Digital World and its initial public offering, investment firm ARC Global, owns a stake worth more than $700 million. ARC Global is headed by Patrick Orlando, former CEO of Digital World.
ARC Global has a mix of investors, none of which have been disclosed. However, regulatory filings from Digital World showed that non-US citizens held about a 17 percent stake in the company. The filings noted that ARC Global includes investors from Guatemala, El Salvador, Brazil, Peru and Mexico.
Mr. Orlando was, for a time, a senior adviser to ARC Group, a Hong Kong-based financier that was an adviser to Digital World when the special-purpose buyout firm was formed. It is unclear whether any of the ARC Group principals have a financial interest in ARC Global.
United Atlantic Ventures owns a stake in Trump Media worth about $500 million. The company is controlled by Wes Moss and Andy Litinsky, former contestants on Mr. Trump’s reality TV show “The Apprentice,” who approached the former president in early 2021, shortly after he left the White House, to set up a social media company. He was an early participant in talks that eventually led to the merger of Media Trump and Digital World.
Mr. Orlando, Mr. Litinsky and Mr. Moss are fighting in court over their stakes in Trump Media. Mr Orlando said he and the shell company’s group of sponsors were entitled to more shares. Mr. Litinsky and Mr. Moss have filed a lawsuit alleging that Trump Media is trying to reduce their stake.
Both lawsuits are pending in Delaware Chancery Court.
Mr. Trump and other major shareholders of Trump Media are barred from selling their shares for at least six months or pledging them as collateral for loans. Trump Media’s board, which is packed with Mr. Trump loyalists, including his eldest son, Donald Trump Jr., could waive those restrictions.
Any significant sale of shares by Mr. Trump or other major shareholders has the potential to reduce Trump Media’s share price and reduce the value of the sellers’ holdings.
Large investors or institutions that own less than 5 percent of a public company are not required to disclose sales and purchases of stock until 45 days after the end of the quarter. That means any major institutions that traded shares of Digital World or Trump Media in recent weeks won’t be required to publicly disclose their holdings until mid-May.
As of late December, the largest institutional investor in Digital World stock was Susquehanna International Group, the Wall Street trading firm owned by Jeffrey Yass, the billionaire investor and major Republican donor. His company owned about 2 percent of Digital World at the end of last year.
It is unclear whether Susquehanna still owns stock in the company that became Trump Media. Susquehanna said it serves as a market maker — facilitating stock trades — and “has zero financial interest in Trump Media.”
