An NPR article: Trump is on the verge of a windfall of billions of dollars. Here are 3 things to know

I've picked bits out of it but it's a fairly short article and it makes some good points.

"Former President Trump is on the verge of a windfall of billions of dollars — but it may not come soon enough to help him fend off his mounting legal problems."

,,,

"But the process of listing Trump Media has been a rather convoluted saga, much like the business and political career of the former president, marked by investigations, lawsuits and general chaos."

...

"All eyes are on the Digital World shareholders

"The vote by Digital World shareholders should be simple.

"If the shareholders of the shell company do approve the deal, Digital World would become Trump Media in the stock markets as early as next week, trading under the stock symbol DJT, short for Donald J. Trump.

"But Digital World has struggled to find enough shareholders to show up in previous key votes, so there are no guarantees that they can get enough of a quorum on Friday to approve the merger.

"And the process to this point has been far from easy in other ways. Digital World has also faced scrutiny from the Securities and Exchange Commission, and it has also faced lawsuits from key shareholders that are still pending.

"Trump stands to earn billions

"If enough Digital World shareholders approve the deal, the windfall for Trump could be big.

"Trump would own over 50% of the new merged company, a stake that would be worth over $3 billion at current market valuations.

"Analysts agree those kinds of valuations are far removed from the actual value of Trump Media. Truth Social had just over $3 million in revenue in the first nine months of last year and losses of nearly $50 million."

....

"But Trump might not be able to sell his shares soon

"The potential windfall comes at a time when Trump is in dire need of cash.

"On Monday he needs to post over $400 million in bond to settle a civil fraud case, and Trump has been unable to secure a company to put up the cash.

"However, how soon the former president can cash in on his stake in Trump Media is uncertain.

"Under the current agreement, Trump faces a six-month lock-up period, meaning he won't be able to sell his shares in Trump Media during that period.

"He could, however, try to work out a deal that would allow him to sell some or all of his holdings earlier, though a big sale at once would risk sending Trump Media shares sharply lower.

"Trump could also try to find somebody who would loan him the money using his Trump Media shares as collateral.

"But the Trump Media shares would be trading at above what many analysts think it's actually worth, making it difficult for a lender to justify lending him the money."