:max_bytes(150000):strip_icc()/GettyImages-21126426422-d323e18253f84ca48ec2923762a1af07.jpg "Truth Social Owner Trump Media & Technology Stock Soars in Debut")
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Key Takeaways
- Trump Media & Technology Group stock is surging in its first day trading after merging with Digital World Acquisition Corp.
- The newly combined company is trading under the stock ticker “DJT,” for former President Donald J. Trump’s initials.
- The merger started in Oct. 2021, and after delays from Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) investigations, DWAC shareholders finally approved it Friday.
Shares of of Trump Media & Technology Group, newly merged with Digital World Acquisition Corp. (DWAC), soared as they started trading under the new “DJT” ticker symbol Tuesday morning.
The companies announced that DWAC’s shareholders approved the merger Friday, and DWAC’s stock surged Monday after it announced plans to debut under the new stock ticker Tuesday. That surge continued as markets opened Tuesday in the combined company’s trading debut.
Trump Media stock, whose new ticker corresponds to the former president’s initials, was up 38% to $69.10 at around 11:20 a.m. ET Tuesday, after rising as much as 59% to $79.38 in the first half hour of trading.
Former President Donald Trump owns about 80 million shares in the company, which was worth between $3 billion and $4 billion when the merger was announced last week, and will likely be considerably higher after the first day of trading on the Nasdaq is complete.
Trump Media, the owner of the social network Truth Social, first announced plans to merge with blank check company DWAC in Oct. 2021, but those plans were delayed while regulators investigated whether DWAC misled investors on the talks it had with Trump Media before deciding to go public.
The company has not announced any changes to the merger terms, which currently prevent shares held by the ex-president and other major stakeholders from being sold until a six month lock-up period has passed.
Some have viewed Trump Media’s intentions to go public as an effort to boost Trump’s finances as he faces hundreds of millions of dollars in growing legal fees and penalties, which could continue to grow as the presumptive Republican presidential nominee’s other trials continue.