A media company owned by Donald Trump, best known for Twitter alternative Truth Social, is preparing an IPO that could bring the former US president billions. This is reported by the AP news agency, citing a vote by the shareholders of Digital World Acquisition Corp. This means that a merger with the Trump Media & Technology Group and its listing on the stock exchange has been approved. TMTG is best known for Truth Social, the platform on which Trump now expresses himself almost exclusively. According to the report, Trump will own most of the shares, which could be worth almost $3 billion. But he won't be able to get the money directly at first.
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Built on Mastodon
Truth Social has been around since the end of 2021, and according to external estimates, the network has around five million users, writes AP. That's not a lot for a social network, but it wouldn't make Truth Social particularly small among Twitter's competitors either. Overall, the service, where supposedly anything can be said and written, remains particularly popular among supporters of the former US president. Technically, Truth Social is based on the source code of the Twitter alternative Mastodon, but the two are not linked. It was only at the weekend that there were indications that Truth Social had not closed serious security gaps that had been discovered and fixed at Mastodon.
The media company's merger and IPO could provide Truth Social with a much-needed cash infusion. Since its launch, the social network has suffered from low usage figures and payment difficulties. The merged company Trump Media will soon be traded on the New York Stock Exchange – under the abbreviation “DJT”, Trump's initials. According to the Washington Post, Trump will own about 60 percent of the new company. According to a contractual clause in the merger, he may only sell his shares after six months at the earliest. Critics expect the share price to fall because, according to annual reports, the service is losing money while sales continue to be rather low.
The IPO is now being initiated against the background of Donald Trump's presumably great financial difficulties. In two first-instance cases in New York, he has to pay a total of more than half a billion dollars for penalties and interest due. If he fails to do so by this Monday, his property could be seized. Until recently, it was unclear whether Trump would be able to meet the deadline. Trump has appealed the ruling. There are also a number of other procedures. Trump wants to win the US presidential election in the fall and move back into the White House for the Republicans.
(my)