Donald Trump's social media company set to go public netting him a potential $3bn after struggling to fund appeal over fraud judgment

Shareholders of Digital World Acquisition Corp approved a merger with Truth Social's parent company on Friday.

It means billions of dollars will be added to Trump's net worth - however, he will not be allowed to sell any shares for at least six months.

Major shareholders at TMTG will be under a "lock-up" provision - a common restriction that keeps big investors from immediately selling their shares.

The windfall comes during a time when his financial pressures are mounting.

Earlier this week, Trump was fined $454m after being found guilty of scheming to deceive banks and insurers by inflating his wealth on financial statements used to secure loans and make deals.

According to Trump's lawyers, he has been unable to secure a bond to appeal the judgement in his civil fraud case.

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If the funds are not raised by March 25, New York state could seize property from Trump.

The former president also faces huge bills from the other court cases against him, including more than $8.5million £6.75million) in legal expenses in 2024 alone.

Trump has previously claimed to be worth billions of dollars and last year said he had $400million (£317million) in cash.

Truth Social was launched in February 2022 - one year after Trump was banned from major social platforms including Facebook and Twitter.

Trump promoted Truth Social in a post on the social media network on Thursday evening, saying: "TRUTH SOCIAL IS MY VOICE, AND THE REAL VOICE OF AMERICA!!! MAGA2024!!!"

The Republican has not confirmed Truth Social’s user numbers.

However, research firm Similarweb estimates that it had around 5 million active mobile and web users in February.