Yes, the company went public. No, it is not a financial success—or even a lifeboat.
Debuting on the charts w/a “DJT” ticker, #TrumpMedia saw a 55% surge in valuation right after markets opened.
Huge influx of cash, right? w/Trump holding ~79M shares, equating to 58% of available stock, the #SPAC debut balloons his #NetWorth by nearly $5B; there were ~136M shares outstanding post-merger.
You may be wondering just whence that staggering #valuation arises,then. There are a couple factors at play—namely, rich friends & retail-level suckers.
…As a #ShellCompany established w/the express purpose of gathering #investments & absorbing them into the minimally operational #TrumpMedia, #DWAC curried investments from all manner of private institutions,most significantly #SIG… meaning #JeffYass, the #Republican#megadonor who’s been floated as potential #treasury sec if #Trump is reelected.
#Now it’s #Ivanka Trump’s turn to face questioning in the #civil#fraud#trial that is publicly probing into the family business. #Trump’s eldest daughter, who has been in his inner circle in both #business & #politics, is due on the stand Wed, after trying unsuccessfully to block her #testimony.
NYAG: "Did you ever review [the financial statements] before they were finalized?"
Ivanka: "I don't recall that.”
NYAG turned to a potential 2012 refinancing of Trump's high rise in #Chicago. An email is displayed in which #DeutscheBank extends an offer for the deal.
Trump: “I had no mortgage on Mar-a-Lago, there's no debt, zero.”
NYAG showed Trump the deed, which said Trump intended to "forever extinguish" the right to use Mar-a-Lago as anything other than a club. Trump however, valued it as if the land were unrestricted.
NYAG pointed to the language describing it as an “exclusive private club."
#NYAG lawyer Colleen Faherty specifically focused on the licensing developments on #Trump's #SFC (Statement of Financial Condition) from 2017, she asked #DonaldTrumpJr if he gave the accountants the $246M #valuation attached to the licensing deals.
NYAG: "Did you work on the statement of financial condition for June 30, 2017?"
Jr: "I did not. The accountants worked on it. That's what we paid them to do.”
Trump gripes trial is 'unfair' after judge's #GagOrder
(it was just in regards to the judge’s staff.)
After the trial wrapped up yesterday, Trump aired his #grievances in a post on his social media platform, saying the trial is “unfair” & again suggesting it was an attempt to interfere w/his presidential campaign.
#Bender’s failure to complain about the #statements of #financial condition & #valuation methods doesn’t mean those valuations & statements they were presented were reasonable. It just shows that Bender@& #Mazars were sloppy, if not financially beholden to the #TrumpOrg.
Yes Mazars had access to data that banks & lenders didn’t, but the employees & execs of #Trump Org weren’t entirely honest w/them.
Bender & Mazars may have been equal parts victims of & accomplices to Trump’s alleged fraud.
The trial is scheduled to last until the end of Dec but is expected to end sooner.
Trump arrived in the courtroom & strode past AG #LetitiaJames, seated in the first row, w/o making eye contact & immediately took a seat at the defense table.
While pool photographers took his picture at the defense table, looking solemn, in camera-ready way, Judge #Engoron looked amused.
#Kise previewed some of the people who defense lawyers intend to call to testify on #Trump’s behalf, incl’g several #ExpertWitnesses on #valuation methods & people involved in #loan decisions. These are just a few of the 127 witnesses who were included on their witness list submitted last week.
Witness list reads like a #TrumpFamily (& company) reunion.
With a tenth of the population and workforce, they think they are owed half the country’s CPP. This should be a last straw insult. Canada should have its own referendum on kicking Alberta out, land-lock them, stop subsidies and payments, impose its own charges for anything flowing out, sue for all damages from excessive emissions and say good riddance.
The method is: if the #province had not joined #CPP, but instead maintained its own plan (like Quebec), had exactly the same #contributions as it did with CPP, got the same rate of return on #investment as CPP, minus everything paid out of CPP? The reports actually went further and discounted the value of those payouts to get the lower number, even though it's not in the formula.
@cazabon a different interpretation suggests 16% is more realistic, including the potential risks involved. This one doesn’t include trying to take advantage of the rest of Canada.
Okay, I get that it was over-valued because of the pandemic. But, going from $40B to $10B in the space of a year just seems suspicious. I'm wondering if regulators are going to start asking questions about this.
Fidelity deepens valuation cut for Reddit and Discord (techcrunch.com)
Fidelity has further slashed the estimated worth of its holdings in Reddit and Discord as well as SaaS startup Gupshup.