Donald Trump’s conservative social media platform, Truth Social, will become a publicly traded company as early as next week. Shareholders in Digital World Acquisition Corp (DWAC) approved a merger with Trump Media and Technology Group on Friday morning, first reported by CNBC.
Trump Media is becoming a public company, under the stock ticker DJT, at a crucial time for the former President. Attorney General Letitia James is preparing to seize Trump’s New York golf course and private estate if he can’t pay $454 million in legal bills, according to CNN. Trump has reportedly approached 30 companies to secure a loan to pay off his hefty New York judgment, but none have offered him a bond.
Truth Social has been a lifeline many times for Donald Trump, but now more than ever. The Twitter clone gave Trump a platform to preach from when it launched in 2022, and now it’s offering him a huge influx of cash. The former president stands to gain more than $3 billion from Trump Media becoming a public company, according to DWAC’s share price on Friday morning. Trump would own at least 58% of the public company in this arrangement.
DWAC and Trump Media’s merger comes with a 6-month lockup agreement for major owners, meaning Trump cannot immediately sell his position in the company. However, board members can sign a waiver allowing Trump to exit his lockup agreement beforehand. Given that the former President is the star of this operation, and how high the stakes are, it’s not unlikely the board will explore that option.
Reddit became the first social media company to IPO in five years this week, following Pinterest in 2019. Trump Media is not IPOing, it’s merging with an already public company. However, Truth Social will be the second large social media company to become publicly traded this year.
The former President is the largest shareholder in Trump Media, but his financial stake is largely dependent on the share price. DJT has the potential to become a meme stock, and it’s frequently cited on the infamous stock trading subreddit r/wallstreetbets. If it becomes a meme stock, it’s likely to have significant fluctuations in share price. Reddit recently called itself out as having the potential to become a meme stock in its IPO filing.
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