President Donald Trump's latest financial disclosures reveal significant stock and bond purchases totaling in the tens of millions of dollars during the first quarter of the year. According to reports from Business Standard, the transactions are detailed in documents filed with the US Office of Government Ethics that encompass more than 100 pages, listing purchases and sales in broad ranges. The president bought as much as $5 million each in major American companies including Nvidia Corp., Oracle Corp., Microsoft Corp., Boeing Co., and Costco Wholesale Corp.
Six of Trump's trades involved Intel Corp., with his administration hammering out an agreement to take a 10% stake for nearly $9 billion in the iconic chipmaker in August. As reported by Business Standard, Trump made investments related to all three companies involved in the Warner Bros Discovery acquisition battle: he bought a modest stake in Warner Bros. worth at least $30,000 in March, a stake in Paramount Skydance worth at least $15,000 the same month, and had 19 transactions naming Netflix, including sales worth as little as $1,000 and as much as $5 million during the first quarter.
The biggest sales came on February 10, when Trump unloaded holdings in three major tech firms: Microsoft, Meta Platforms Inc., and Amazon.com Inc., in amounts between $5 million and $25 million. According to Business Standard, he also sold a stake in a Vanguard ETF in January worth at least $5 million. Unlike his predecessors, Trump didn't divest or move his assets into a blind trust with an independent overseer, with his sprawling business empire managed by two of his sons and operating in several areas that intersect with presidential policy.
The disclosures highlight potential policy conflicts, as Trump has made a number of policy moves that intersect with publicly traded companies. As reported by Business Standard, Nvidia's chips, critical to AI development, require US government approval for foreign sales, while executives from Nvidia and Boeing are part of a US delegation of business leaders accompanying Trump on a trip to China this week. The White House has stated that neither Trump nor his family members are making investment decisions for him, with independent financial managers buying and selling assets using programs that replicate recognized indexes when making investments.
