Former President Donald Trump’s Truth Social, a shameless Twitter clone, is set to become a public company as soon as next week.
Digital World Acquisition Corp. shareholders voted Friday to merge with Trump Media and Technology Group, the company behind Truth Social. The vote was the culmination of a years-long saga that sought to merge Trump Media with a public company in a so-called SPAC deal. Once listed, the company will trade under the ticker DJT.
At the Rumble, more than 2,000 people watched a man dressed in a Jack Sparrow costume narrate a shareholder meeting live. After the vote, discussion broke out. “Thank you Jesus!!!!” read one comment from the CanAmPatriot17 account.
The vote could give Trump, who owns about 60% of the company, a windfall of nearly $3.5 billion. Shares of Digital World Acquisition Corp. rose about 4% after news of the vote broke.
The potential fortune could not come at a worse time for the former president. Trump is trying to raise cash to pay a $454 million judgment against him in New York state as part of a civil fraud case. Trump also owes E. Jean Carroll $83 million, the result of a January defamation lawsuit over a jury’s previous finding that Trump molested Carroll in a Bergdorf Goodman locker room in the 1990s. Sexual abuse. Trump’s posts on Truth Social were used as evidence in the January case.
As part of Trump’s agreement with the company, he must wait about six months before selling any stock. (Trump claimed on Truth Social this morning that he now has nearly $500 million in cash.)
Truth Social looks almost identical to Twitter, but there are some key differences. What users post is not “tweets,” but “truths.” “Forwarding” is called “retruth”. Unlike many right-wing Twitter clones, the site works well, stays online most of the time, and actually seems to have a fairly active user base. But since launching in February 2022, the company has been mired in controversy after Trump was kicked off the mainstream platform for inciting violence during the Capitol riots on January 6.
The site is exactly what one would expect from a Trump-inspired social network. Groups dedicated to QAnon, election deniers and other conspiracies are easy to find.
In October 2022, Will Wilkerson, a senior Trump Media employee, filed a whistleblower complaint with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission, claiming that the company made “fraudulent statements” that violated federal securities laws. Wilkerson was fired shortly after filing the complaint. The SEC ultimately approved the merger proposal in February.
Trump Media co-founders Andy Litinsky and Wes Moss sued Trump Media in February, claiming the company hatched a plan to dilute their shares. The pair, both former Apprentice contestants and company shareholders, said the company needed to comply with the 2021 agreement, which gives them the ability to appoint directors to the company’s board and other financial incentives.
The company has become a meme stock, and its performance appears to be more related to Trump’s political prospects than the company’s actual financial performance. The stock price could change dramatically before Trump has a chance to cash out.