Trump transfers DJT shares to revocable trusts: SEC filings

Aytac Unal/ | Anadolu | Getty Images

President-elect Donald Trump transferred his entire stock stake to this week Trump media to a revocable trust of which he is the sole beneficiary, regulatory filings showed Thursday evening.

Trump received no money Tuesday for donating his 114,750,000 shares of Trump Media stock to the Donald J. Trump Revocable Trust, according to a filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Because Trump is the beneficiary of the trust, he now “indirectly” owns the Trump Media shares he transferred, the SEC filing said.

The president-elect's son, Donald Trump Jr., is the sole trustee of the trust and has sole voting and investment authority over the securities held by the company, according to a separate SEC filing Thursday.

Trump Media, which trades under the ticker symbol DJT, closed Thursday at $35.41 per share, putting the value of the shares transferred at more than $4 billion.

Trump, who is set to be sworn in for a second non-consecutive term as president on Jan. 20, was the largest individual shareholder in the social media company that runs the app Truth Social. His stake represented nearly 53% of the company's outstanding shares.

The company has a market capitalization of more than $7 billion, a figure that dwarfs the company's meager sales.

Trump Media reported quarterly revenue of just $1.01 million and a net loss of $19.2 million on November 5 – Election Day. The company also reported that it ended the third quarter with $673 million in cash and investments, with no debt.

President-elect Donald Trump arrives in New York to ring the opening bell at the New York Stock Exchange on Thursday, December 12, 2024.

Alex Brandon | AP

A spokesman for Trump did not immediately respond to a request for comment on the stock transfer.

A spokeswoman for Trump Media had no comment on the transaction, only pointing to the two SEC filings detailing the move and Trump's son's role in the trust.

Thursday's SEC filing said that after the transfer of his shares, Trump “directly acquired 0 shares of Trump Media & Technology Group Corp.” and indirectly owned 114,750,000 shares of Trump Media & Technology Group Corp.

“The reporting person [Trump] is the settlor and sole beneficiary of the trust,” the filing states.

The type of transfer Trump made this week is nothing new for the president-elect, although the dollar value of his shares exceeds the value of any assets he has previously transferred.

Before his first inauguration as president in 2017, Trump made similar transfers to the same revocable trust.

At that point, Trump transferred various real estate holdings, assets and liabilities to the trust, according to reports from Mazars, his accounting firm at the time.

He also made transfers to the trust in February 2016, when he was running for president.

Trump did not hold an executive position at Trump Media, whose shares went public earlier this year after the then-privately held company merged with a publicly traded company, Digital World Acquisition Corp.

Trump has nominated two Trump Media board members to high-level positions in his administration.

Trump named former pro-wrestling mogul Linda McMahon as education secretary and Kash Patel, a former Trump White House official, as the next FBI director.

Trump also recently named Devin Nunes, CEO of Trump Media, as chairman of the President's Intelligence Advisory Board.

This position does not require Senate confirmation.

Trump has said Nunes, who previously represented a California district in the House of Representatives, will remain CEO of Trump Media.

– CNBC's Christina Wilkie contributed to this report.

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