President-elect Donald Trump’s net worth ballooned from $2.5 billion to $6.1 billion during a year marred by legal struggles and assassination attempts.
Trump’s majority stake in his social media company, Trump Media & Technology Group Corp (TMTG), the parent company of Truth Social, was the main driver of this growth.
The president-elect began the year with a net worth of about $2.5 billion, according to Forbes. That was a decrease from his previous term in the White House when it reached $4 billion. His net worth was not as volatile before he became the owner of a publicly traded company, the outlet noted.
Trump’s net worth rose quickly from $2.3 billion to $6.4 billion just a day after the parent company of Truth Social went public, with his legal struggles pushing down his net worth between the beginning of the year and March. Shares in the company rose after the merger between Digital World Acquisition Corp, a special purpose acquisition company, and TMTG. After the company had been publicly traded for two days, Trump’s net worth reached $7 billion.
On April 16, Trump’s net worth slumped to one of its lowest levels of the year, when the share price of TMTG decreased for several days. But, by the end of the month, the share price was on the rise again, with Trump increasing his stake in the company, and his net worth hit $7.6 billion.
Trump’s net worth reached its highest point of all time — $8.1 billion — in early May. It stayed above $5 billion for the duration of the month, reaching $8 billion once more on May 14. Coincidentally, this was the same day a jury found Trump liable for the sexual abuse of writer E Jean Carroll, granting her $5 million in damages. Days before, adult actor Stormy Daniels took the stand in the hush money trial which led to 34 convictions for Trump for falsifying business records. The day after his conviction in late May, Trump’s net worth decreased by $300 million to $7.5 billion.
On July 14, Trump survived an attempted assassination in Butler, Pennsylvania. The following day, TMTG saw a surge, increasing his net worth to $6.1 billion.
By September 13, Trump revealed that he wasn’t going to sell his TMTG shares as a lockup period that stopped him from selling was coming to an end, with his net worth increasing by about $200 million to $3.9 billion. The rise came after a drop in his net worth following his much-criticized debate performance against Vice President Kamala Harris.
As the betting odds of a Trump victory in the election grew, and TMTG shares rallied, Trump’s net worth reached $8 billion again in late October.
Winning the election led to Trump’s net worth reaching $6.2 billion the following day, with it remaining above $5.1 billion for the rest of November, according to Forbes.
During Trump’s initial month as president-elect, his net worth reached $6 billion by December 9. It was $6.51 billion as of December 16. It changed slightly as of December 20 when Trump put his full stake in a trust.
Trump’s assets were worth $6.1 billion as of December 23, putting him in 530th place of the world’s wealthiest people, according to Forbes. His wealth is mostly connected to the share price of TMTG. With a 60 percent stake, he’s the largest shareholder.
