The DWAC deal will pump money into Trump Media, which will allow Truth Social to keep operating. Mr. Trump’s personal stake in the company will be worth more than $3 billion on paper.
A Blank-Check Company is a company in a developmental stage that either doesn't have an established business plan or has a business plan that revolves around a merger or acquisition with another firm.
In approving the merger, shareholders of Digital World Acquisition Corporation will become shareholders of Trump Media & Technology Group, which will trade on the stock market under the stock symbol DJT. The deal will pump more than $300 million into Trump Media, which has all but exhausted its available cash and will allow Truth Social, the company’s flagship digital media platform, to keep operating.
Based on Digital World’s stock price of $44 a share just before the vote announcement, Trump Media will debut with a market value of more than $5 billion. That means Mr. Trump’s personal stake will be worth more than $3 billion.
Shares of Trump Media could begin trading under the new stock symbol as soon as next week.
The deal’s approval comes as Mr. Trump is facing a Monday deadline to cover a $454 million penalty in a civil fraud case in New York. He is restricted for six months from selling any his shares or using them as collateral for a loan, although he could ask the board of the merged company to waive that rule for him.
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Driving the news: Shareholders of Digital World Acquisition Corp., a blank-check company, on Friday approved a merger with Truth Social's parent company, Trump Media & Technology Group.
Why it matters: The vote effectively adds billions of dollars to Trump's net worth, although he's not allowed to sell any shares for at least six months.
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Jeffrey S. Yass (born 1956) is an American billionaire businessman. According to Forbes, Yass had a net worth of $28.5 billion in 2023.[1]
He is the co-founder and managing director of the Philadelphia-based Susquehanna International Group (SIG) and an early investor in TikTok. In 2001, he joined the executive advisory council of the Cato Institute.
Yass is the richest man in Pennsylvania. As of March, he is the largest donor in the 2024 US election cycle, having donated $46 million to Republican groups and campaigns.[2]
According to Israeli newspaper Haaretz, he is a major supporter of Israeli right-wing think tanks.[3]
a Trump/Yass meeting generated Trump's remarkable flip-flop on the merits of flooding American teens with Chinese propaganda.
March 21 (Reuters) - The biggest donor in this U.S. election cycle is Jeffrey Yass, a libertarian trading firm owner who started off as a professional poker player and is now a major investor in TikTok's Chinese owner ByteDance.
Philadelphia-based Yass has donated more than $46 million to Republican causes so far in the 2024 election cycle, data from political donations tracker OpenSecrets shows.
The funds have gone to support former rivals of Donald Trump for the Republican presidential nomination, as well as a raft of groups supporting school choice, programs that use taxpayer dollars to send students to private and religious schools.