For someone as obviously obsessed with his public image as former President Donald Trump, this is probably going to be unwelcome news.
As of the outlet’s latest numbers, Trump is now again off the list at Forbes of the 400 richest people in the United States. An article from Forbes outlining some of the financial hits he’s taken zeroes in upon the situation with Truth Social, the alternative social media site announced from the Trump team, which the former president himself regularly uses but that’s just not taken off as those in the former president’s circles would no doubt have wanted.
And a planned merger between the Trump company behind Truth Social and a special purpose acquisition company (SPAC) that would have taken the Truth Social operation public has infamously faltered again and again, culminating even in fraud charges from the federal Securities and Exchange Commission against the SPAC! The problem was that they were substantively pursuing the Trump company merger before they, well, established in filings and available information that they were doing so. (The charges, which came with a fine, didn’t implicate Trump himself.)
“With an estimated $2.6 billion fortune, he is $300 million shy of the cutoff for The Forbes 400 ranking of America’s richest people, the annual measurement that Trump has obsessed over for decades, relentlessly lying to reporters to try to vault himself higher on the list,” Forbes said. “His net worth is down more than $600 million from a year ago. The biggest reason: Truth Social, his social-media business.” Forbes said that the massive stake Trump holds in his namesake company behind the social media site has lost hundreds of millions of dollars in value, moving from some $730 million to under $100 million. Big difference!
The federal investigation targeting the SPAC arduously pursuing a merger with Trump’s company was substantial, finding that — despite claims to the contrary — individuals involved in running the company (Digital World Acquisition Corp.) discussed ambitions (with the Trump team) for the business combination before their initial public offering for public investment. Many individual Trump supporters are known to have eventually put some money towards DWAC, where stock prices have wildly fluctuated.
