By Dan Mangan -
CNBC
Shareholders of Digital World Acquisition Corporation voted Friday in favor of a merger with Donald Trump's social network, Truth Social, in a deal that could net the former president $3 billion or more.
The DWAC shareholder vote comes two and a half years after the special purpose acquisition company announced plans to merge with Trump Media & Technology Group, the private company that owns the Truth Social platform.
[These are the properties that can be seized from Trump if he does not pay 464 million dollars]
It also comes as Trump faces the possibility that New York Attorney General Letitia James will begin trying to collect on Monday the massive $454 million fine levied against the former president for civil fraud.
If the merger happens as expected, shares of the new combined company could begin trading publicly next week, under the stock symbol DJT, the initials of Donald J. Trump.
Trump's now-defunct casino and hotel company also traded under his initials.
Former President Donald Trump during a campaign event, Saturday, March 16, 2024, in Vandalia, Ohio. Associated Press
Several lawsuits recently filed over the terms of this merger did not prevent this Friday's vote.
Trump would own nearly 80 million of the shares
under the merger.
Based on DWAC's current trading prices, that means about $3 billion or more, although it's unclear what the stock will be priced when it goes public.
That potential gain for Trump, while enormous, could not materialize immediately, at least not under the current terms of the deal.
The former president will not be able to sell shares in the merged company for at least six months.
It is possible that the board of directors will vote to allow Trump to sell shares before that deadline.
And that council could be filled with people close to him, such as his son Donald Trump Jr., former wrestling company executive Linda McMahon and the former president's former business representative, Robert Lighthizer, according to a list of expected candidates. .
If the board of directors approves lifting the lockup period on shares, this could quickly free up a large source of cash for Trump, the presumptive Republican presidential candidate.
Trump is currently facing huge legal bills from his lawyers in criminal and civil cases, and damages judgments exceeding $500 million in three separate cases.
Trump earlier this week asked a New York appeals court to stay the $454 million fraud judgment as he seeks to overturn the verdict in the case.
The court
has not yet ruled on that request.
Trump's lawyers indicated in a court filing that he did not have enough cash to post bail to secure the sentence and prevent James from trying to seize his properties.
However, in a Friday post on Truth Social, Trump stated, “I currently have almost half a billion in cash.”