(Bloomberg) — Shares of the blank-check company merging with former president Donald Trump’s social media startup surged 35% Monday, after the combined firm announced it is set to begin trading Tuesday, potentially bringing him a financial windfall.
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Trump Media & Technology Group is expected to trade on the Nasdaq under the symbol DJT after completing a deal with Digital World Acquisition Corp., according to a statement, following more than two years of snags.
DWAC shares soared to $49.95 each in the biggest one-day gain since January, according to data compiled by Bloomberg. The stock more than recouped the 14% drop on Friday when the deal’s shareholder vote passed as expected. Warrants tied to the SPAC were up 26% to $23.15, the highest in two years.
The merger could potentially hand Trump more than $5 billion worth of shares, though they would be subject to lock-up agreements and performance requirements that may temporarily hinder his ability to monetize the stock and ease his present cash crunch.
Read More: Trump Wealth Hits Record $6.4 Billion on SPAC Deal, Slashed Bond
Digital World Chief Executive Officer Eric Swider will become a director of the merged company, which will be led by Devin Nunes, a former California Representative who left Congress to become CEO of Trump Media, the statement showed.
The windfall may come at a critical time for Trump who earlier this month became the presumptive Republican presidential nominee. He’s paying millions of dollars a month to fund his ongoing legal troubles. Trump is set for the first of his criminal trials on April 15, a judge ruled.
Separately, Trump was ordered by a different judge last month to pay $454 million after a civil ruling that he had fraudulently inflated his wealth for years. While a New York appeals court agreed on Monday to slash the amount the former president would have to put up as a bond in while he contests the verdict, he is still required to post $175 million within 10 days.
The special-purpose acquisition vehicle has more than doubled this year as investors use it as a way to bet on Trump’s push for re-election. The stock has been a favorite among the retail-trading crowd since the deal was announced in 2021 with posts across Stocktwits and Reddit Inc.’s WallStreetBets forum encouraging people to buy shares.
(Updates with legal context from sixth paragraph.)
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