Former President Donald Trump can again lay claim to membership in an elite club: The Forbes 400 list of the richest Americans, CBS News reports.
Trump reclaimed a place in the business magazine’s annual list after tumbling from the rankings last year, which marked the first time in 25 years Trump hadn’t been included. The real estate investor lands at No. 343 on this year’s list.
The biggest boost in Trump’s wealth this year has come from his stake in Trump Media & Technology Group, which Forbes describes as his “single most valuable asset.” The former president owns about 80% of the venture, according to the analysis. The valuation is based on the prospect of Trump Media & Technology Group going public via a SPAC.
That SPAC, Digital World Acquisition, is publicly traded, with Forbes estimating that Trump’s 73 million shares would be worth $730 million based on a $10 per share stock price for Digital World.
Forbes said it gave Trump’s stake a lower per-share valuation to reflect “the discounted rate that a handful of big-money investors agreed to pay for a piece of the action.”
Digital World and Trump Media & Technology Group’s future hinges upon the closure of a merger to complete the SPAC deal, which has been stymied by a number of factors. These include investigations by both the Securities and Exchange Commission and the Department of Justice.
PIPE investors recently pulled out $138.5 million when the deal failed to close by its original Sept. 20 deadline and the PIPE subscription commitment expired. PIPE commitments on the deal had totaled $1 billion.
Since then, the SPAC has changed its business address from an office suite to a UPS Store mail box, regulatory filings show. Read more.
