Shell Company Seeks to Extend Deadline for Merger With Trump Media

The shell firm searching for to merge with former President Donald J. Trump’s social media firm introduced late Wednesday that it had postponed a vital assembly of shareholders scheduled for Thursday, at which it hoped to announce that buyers had agreed to provide it extra time to finish its long-delayed deal.

The firm is now giving shareholders till Sept. 5 to approve the measure to provide it extra time to finish the take care of Trump Media & Technology Group. That is simply three days earlier than the shell firm, Digital World Acquisition Corp., can be compelled to start to liquidate and return the $300 million it raised from buyers in a September 2021 preliminary public providing.

Digital World was arrange as a particular goal acquisition car, or SPAC, which raises cash by going public to finance a future merger — on this case, Trump Media. The merger was introduced on Oct. 21, 2021, and Digital World now could be attempting to get 65 p.c of its roughly 400,000 shareholders to approve the extension for the deal.

The vote to delay the liquidation date comes after Digital World reached a settlement with the Securities and Exchange Commission on July 20 to resolve an investigation into occasions previous the unique merger announcement. Digital World’s settlement requires it to pay a penalty of $18 million as soon as the merger is accomplished and revise a few of its filings to adjust to federal securities legal guidelines.

A yr in the past, when Digital World was confronted with an analogous must delay the liquidation date, it took a number of postponements to get sufficient shareholders to approve the transfer. But the corporate is in a time crunch this yr, as a result of it can’t delay the vote on the extension past the Sept. 8 liquidation date.

SPACs are required by securities legal guidelines to return money raised in a public providing to buyers if they’re unable to finish a merger in specified interval. To date, roughly 30 p.c of the 947 SPACs that went public because the starting of 2020 have needed to liquidate, in line with SPACInsider, a analysis agency.

If the Digital World merger is accomplished, it’s going to present Trump Media, the guardian firm of Truth Social, with a badly wanted money infusion.

Earlier this month, Trump Media recommitted itself to finishing the deal by yr’s finish however solely after it obtained new phrases that may strengthen Mr. Trump’s management over a merged firm.

Under a revised settlement, Digital World would challenge a brand new class of shares that can give Mr. Trump at the least 55 p.c voting energy over all shareholder measures. Mr. Trump may even personal a majority of the corporate’s foremost frequent inventory after the merger, in line with regulatory filings.

At its peak, Digital World’s inventory traded at round $97 a share, however the delay sapped a lot of that early investor euphoria. Still, at $17 a share, it’s buying and selling considerably above its roughly $10 a share liquidation worth.

Truth Social has emerged as Mr. Trump’s major megaphone for railing towards his political opponents and the federal and state prosecutors who’ve introduced 4 indictments towards him.

But the social media platform’s progress has slowed after its official introduction final yr. This yr, the Truth Social app has been downloaded two million instances, in line with the information evaluation agency Sensor Tower. In whole, Truth Social has been downloaded six million instances because it was launched.