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Trump’s Social Media Company Is Set to Trade Tuesday on Nasdaq

Former president Donald Trump’s social media startup is set to begin trading Tuesday after completing a blank-check deal that may bring him a financial windfall.
Bloomberg
By Bloomberg
25 Mar
0
Truth Social As Trump's Social Media Company Approved To Go PublicThe Truth Social website on a smartphone arranged in New York, US, on Friday, March 22, 2024. Shareholders of Digital World Acquisition Corp., a publicly traded shell company, approved a deal to merge with the Trump's media business in a Friday vote. That means Trump Media & Technology Group, whose flagship product is social networking site Truth Social, will soon begin trading on the Nasdaq stock market, reported the AP.

Trump Media & Technology Group is expected to trade on the Nasdaq under the symbol DJT after completing a deal with Digital World Acquisition Corp., according to a statement, following more than two years of snags.The merger could potentially hand Trump nearly $4 billion worth of shares, though they would be subject to lock-up agreements and performance requirements that may temporarily hinder his ability to monetize the stock and ease his present cash crunch.

Read More: Trump Eyes $4 Billion Stock Windfall as His Legal Bills Pile Up

Digital World Chief Executive Officer Eric Swider will become a director of the merged company, which will be led by Devin Nunes, a former California Representative who left Congress to become CEO of Trump Media, the statement showed.

The windfall may come at a critical time for Trump who earlier this month became the presumptive Republican presidential nominee. He’s paying millions of dollars a month to fund his ongoing legal troubles, which include four criminal indictments. A New York appeals court agreed on Monday to slash the former president’s bond in his fraud case by more than two thirds to $175 million while he appeals the verdict.

DWAC shares climbed nearly 14% to $41.99 each on Monday, reversing Friday’s decline after the shareholder vote passed as expected. Warrants tied to the SPAC rose nearly 10%.

The special-purpose acquisition vehicle has more than doubled this year as investors use it as a way to bet on Trump’s push for re-election. The stock has been a favorite among the retail-trading crowd since the deal was announced in 2021 with posts across Stocktwits and Reddit Inc.’s WallStreetBets forum encouraging people to buy shares.

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