Former President Donald Trump’s social media venture, Truth Social, is scheduled to debut on the Nasdaq stock exchange. Trump Media and Technology Group will transition into a public company following its merger with Digital World Acquisition Corporation (DWAC).
The DWAC is an already listed shell company established explicitly for this purpose. This merger marks a huge step towards Donald Trump’s venture becoming a publicly traded entity. Shareholders of Digital World Acquisition Corp. have given their approval for a merger with Trump’s media business.
The vote, which took place on Friday, was a step forward in combining the two entities. Shares of DWAC have been volatile since the merger’s approval with Trump’s media business. On Friday, after the approval, the stock dropped by 13.7%. However, it increased by 35.2% on Monday to reach $49.95 per share.
Former President Donald Trump will become the majority owner of the combined company, holding nearly 79 million shares. This stake is valued at approximately $4 billion, showing the financial impact of the merger on Trump’s holdings.
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Before the merger, shares of the shell company, DWAC, often showed investor sentiment towards Mr. Trump. This trend is expected to continue even after the merger, especially given Trump’s presence in the news due to pending legal trials.
From a valuation point of view, Trump Media’s valuation appears unusually high. The company generated only $3.3 million in revenue in the first nine months of last year, solely from advertising on Truth Social. Meanwhile, it recorded a significant loss of $49 million during the same period.
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Regardless, Trump will not have immediate access to cash out his stake in the Palm Beach, Florida-based company. This is because of a “lock-up” provision that prevents insiders from selling newly issued shares for six months unless the company’s board changes.
On Monday, the former president was in New York attending a hearing related to his criminal hush money case. Additionally, a New York appeals court reduced the amount he must post in cash or bond while appealing a civil fraud ruling from $454 million to $175 million.
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Truth Social debuted in February 2022. It was born one year after Donald Trump’s ban from major social platforms, including Facebook and X (formerly known as Twitter). This ban followed the January 6 insurrection at the U.S. Capitol. Although Trump has since been reinstated on both platforms, he has remained active on Truth Social.
Notably, he has actively promoted the platform, even posting messages like “I love Truth Social” on it. Trump Media has not yet disclosed Truth Social’s user numbers. However, more information is expected to be disclosed with the company that is now publicly traded.
According to research firm Similarweb, Truth Social had approximately 5 million active mobile and web users in February. While this figure is significantly lower than TikTok’s over 2 billion users and Facebook’s 3 billion users, it still surpasses other “alt-tech” competitors like Parler. Parler has been offline for nearly a year but plans to return, and Gettr, which had less than 2 million visitors in February.
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