SPAC tied to Trump’s social media venture receives inquiries from U.S. SEC

December 6, 2021

(Reuters) -The blank check firm taking former U.S. President Donald Trump’s social media venture public said on Monday it has received fact-finding inquiries from financial regulators as it gave investors a first look into its business ahead of its stock market listing.

Digital World Acquisition Corp said it had received a request for information from the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission and the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority (FINRA).

The SEC had sought documents relating to communications between the blank check firm and Trump’s social media venture among others, while FINRA asked for detail surrounding events, specifically, a review of trading, that preceded the public announcement of its merger with Trump Media & Technology Group Corp (TMTG).

Shares of Digital World Acquisition Corp pared premarket gains to trade up 2% in early trade.

The filing by DWAC comes after TMTG on Saturday said it had entered into agreements to raise about $1 billion from a group of unidentified investors as it prepares to float in the U.S. stock market.

In the first public set of projections since the announcement of the merger, DWAC also said it expects Trump’s social media app, TRUTH Social average revenue per user to grow to $13.50 in 2026, with 81 million total users.

DWAC also said it expects the social media venture to reach 40 million total subscribers by 2026.

(Reporting by Noor Zainab Hussain in Bengaluru; Editing by Shinjini Ganguli)