Chart
for
price
of
shares
in
Digital
World
Acquisition
Corp.
in
days
leading
up
to
and
including
shareholder
approval
of
merger
with
Donald
Trump’s
social
media
company.
CNBC
Donald
Trump
on
Saturday
told
his
many
online
followers,
“I
LOVE
TRUTH
SOCIAL”
—
but
shareholders
in
the
newly
merged
company
that
will
own
that
social
media
app
might
not
feel
so
great
after
a
sharp
drop
in
price
the
day
before.
The
shell
company
Digital
World
Acquisition
Corp.
saw
its
share
price
plunge
nearly
14%
in
the
hours
following
shareholder
approval
Friday
morning
of
a
merger
with
the
former
president‘s
social
media
company
to
take
it
public.
If
that
drop
accelerates
in
the
coming
weeks,
the
value
of
Trump’s
majority
stake
in
the
newly
merged
company,
dubbed
Trump
Media,
could
be
a
bit
lower
than
the
$3
billion
or
so
estimated
before
shareholders
signed
off
on
the
deal
Friday.
DWAC’s
stock,
which
hit
a
52-week-high
of
$58.72
per
share
on
Jan.
23
as
the
long-stalled
merger
appeared
more
likely
to
happen,
had
fallen
to
$44.20
per
share
as
trading
opened
Friday
morning
just
ahead
of
the
shareholder
vote.
DWAC
shares
closed
trading
Friday
afternoon
at
$36.94
per
share.
After-hours
trading
saw
the
stock
recover
a
bit
to
$38.55
per
share.
But
that
was
still
12.7%
lower
than
Friday’s
opening
price.
watch
now
The
decline
could
reflect
concerns
about
whether
Trump
Media
&
Technology
Group,
which
is
being
merged
with
DWAC,
can
ultimately
deliver
significant
revenue
—
and
whether
Trump
will
try
to
cash
in
on
his
share
early
because
of
his
many
legal
problems.
TMTG,
which
owns
the
Trump
Social
platform
that
Trump
used
Saturday
to
proclaim
his
love
for
the
app,
reported
losses
of
nearly
$50
million
over
the
first
three
financial
quarters
of
2023.
It
booked
less
than
$3.5
million
in
revenue
during
that
time.
Trump,
in
the
meantime,
faces
civil
legal
judgments
topping
a
half-billion
dollars
in
New
York
federal
and
state
courts,
in
addition
to
mounting
legal
bills
from
those
cases
and
four
criminal
prosecutions
as
he
seeks
to
unseat
President
Joe
Biden
in
November’s
election.
In
the
past
week,
Trump’s
lawyers
have
said
in
a
court
filing
that
he
does
not
have
the
cash
to
obtain
an
appeal
bond
to
secure
a
$454
million
fraud
judgment
in
one
of
those
cases.
This
would,
for
now,
thwart
the
New
York
Attorney
General’s
Office
from
collecting
on
that
award.
Under
the
terms
of
the
merger,
Trump,
who
will
have
at
least
a
58%
stake
in
Trump
Media,
will
be
blocked
from
selling
shares
in
the
company
for
six
months.
However,
the
new
board
of
directors,
which
is
set
to
include
his
son,
Donald
Trump
Jr.,
and
other
close
allies,
could
vote
to
lift
that
restriction,
allowing
him
to
sell
off
shares
to
cover
his
legal
costs
much
sooner.
That,
in
turn,
might
lead
to
Trump
Media’s
share
price
to
drop
and
could
lead
to
other
shareholders
to
sell
stock,
further
depressing
share
prices.
Trump
Media
will
use
the
ticker
symbol
DJT
when
it
begins
trading
on
the
NASDAQ
stock
market
as
soon
as
next
week.
That
same
ticker
was
used
for
Trump’s
prior
publicly
traded
company,
Trump
Hotels
&
Casino
Resorts,
whose
shares
traded
on
the
New
York
Stock
Exchange
beginning
in
1995.
That
company
lost
money
every
year
it
operated
and
ended
up
filing
for
bankruptcy
protection
in
2004,
the
same
year
it
was
delisted
from
the
exchange.
