The SPAC tied to Trump's Truth Social surges 11% after the former president is formally indicted
Digital World Acquisition stock surged 11% after former President Donald Trump was indicted.
Digital World is a SPAC that plans to merge with Trump's social media company, Truth Social.
After the indictment on Thursday, Trump posted to his Truth Social account more than 45 times.
Shares of Digital World Acquisition, the SPAC that plans to merge with Donald Trump's Truth Social media company, surged as much as 11% on Friday after the former president was indicted by a Manhattan grand jury.
The surge in the stock could be driven by the idea that while the indictment is bad news for Trump, it could be good news for business, helping drive activity and engagement on a service that looks a lot like Twitter.
Since the indictment was revealed Thursday afternoon, Trump posted more than 45 times to his Truth Social account, both reposting statements in support of him from other Republicans as well as posting his own thoughts on the matter.
"These Thugs and Radical Left Monsters have just INDICATED [sic] the 45th President of the United States of America, and the leading Republican Candidate, by far, for the 2024 Nomination for President," Trump posted to Truth Social.
That misspelled post was liked more than 40,000 times, which is about double the typical engagement Trump receives on his Truth Social posts.
The exact charges haven't been made public yet, but Trump was indicted after a grad jury heard evidence related to a $130,000 payment to former porn star Stormy Daniels right before the 2016 election. Trump plans to turn himself in early next week, which could drive more activity to Truth Social.
But Digital World doesn't yet own Truth Social, and there's a possibility that it never will as the merger between the two companies has yet to receive the 65% of shareholder approval it needs to close the deal. Digital World held several shareholder votes that failed to meet the threshold, and it has since delayed the deadline to complete the merger to September 2023.
Separately, the Securities and Exchange Commission is investigating the merger between Digital World and Truth Social after reports surfaced that executives of the two companies may have held deal talks before Digital World's initial public offering, which would violate SPAC regulations if proven true.
While the deal remains in limbo, investors are still moving the share price of Digital World based on the goings-on of Trump and Truth Social.
Shares of Digital World briefly traded above $14 early Friday morning, above its initial public offering price of $10 per share, but 92% below its record high of $175 per share.
Read the original article on Business Insider
