Will New Social Media Platform Truth Social Fulfill its Promise

2/22/2022

Politics

0 min read

Investors Watch Media SPAC Stay in the Green as Markets Falter

The SPAC, Digital World Acquisition Corp. (DWAC), which is likely to soon to become Trump Media & Technology Group (TMTG), is up 750% since the end of the third quarter 2021. This compares quite favorably to the S&P 500, which is up just 1.54% for the same period. Once merged, the media company founded by former President Trump will be a rare publicly owned entity with the former President’s name attached.

The new social media app offered as a product of the company, Truth Social, became available on Monday in Apple’s App Store. During his White House term, the former President had credited himself with driving traffic and users to social media sites like Twitter. It is unclear how high of a profile Trump will take on this upstart, but it has been a very successful SPAC for investors. The IPO price was $10 and has had a 52-week range of $9.84 to $175. The pre-merger SPAC is currently trading in the upper $80 range.

While there have been beta users of the app for months, Apple and TMTG made it available for all to download at midnight on Presidents Day. Users that had pre-ordered the app saw it automatically download to their devices. The first day was not without its glitches for Truth Social though. It was reported that many who sought to register their account were unable to and instead received the message, “Due to massive demand, we have placed you on our waitlist.”

Former U.S. Representative Devin Nunes left his Congressional seat to run Trump Media. Nunes said in an interview with Maria Bartiromo this past Sunday that by mid-March he expects the app to be fully operational within the U.S.

De-SPAC Details

In December, TMTG raised $1 billion committed financing from private investors; the funds won’t be made available until the merger with DWAC has been completed. Also, upon merging, the company will have access to capital now being held in trust from the original investors, this is approximately $293 million. The merger is expected to occur during the first quarter of 2022.

Take-Away

One of the most successful SPACs initially offered in 2021 is Digital World Acquisition Corp. (DWAC). At one point the shares were up 1,650%. Today holders of the, as yet unmerged, SPAC are watching the product Truth Social made launched and are responding more positively than the overall market.

Paul Hoffman

Managing Editor, Channelchek

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