Trump Media deal partner says shareholders approve delay of merger with Truth Social parent - CNBC

Digital World Acquisition Corp., the blank cheque institution that plans to instrumentality Trump Media and Technology Group and its Truth Social level public, said Tuesday that shareholders voted to o.k. an hold of its deadline to merge with the erstwhile president's firm.

Shares of the peculiar intent acquisition institution jumped much than 8% pursuing a little shareholder meeting.

The company, which already has $1 cardinal successful financing already astatine risk, had delayed the gathering aggregate times implicit caller months arsenic it worked to garner enactment from shareholders. DWAC needed 65% of its shareholders to o.k. an hold of the deadline to merge with Trump Media until September 2023. 

DWAC has antecedently failed to get the indispensable votes from its ample swath of retail investors. The gathering was adjourned galore times. DWAC CEO Patrick Orlando initiated a built-in hold with a $2.8 cardinal publication from his institution Arc Global Investments II. DWAC faced liquidation adjacent period if it can't get a merger extension. The Securities and Exchange Commission is investigating the Trump Media-DWAC deal.

"It's a truly arduous process erstwhile you person arsenic galore stockholders arsenic we did," Orlando said during an interrogation with IPO Edge connected Tuesday instantly anterior to the shareholder meeting.

Orlando has been moving to drum up votes connected Trump Media's Truth Social platform, and adjacent urged Trump Media CEO Devin Nunes and its chairman, erstwhile President Donald Trump, to assistance publicize the effort.

The stakes of the ballot were peculiarly precocious for immoderate of the erstwhile president's supporters, who shared connected Truth Social and Reddit that they've invested thousands of dollars successful DWAC successful a motion of enactment for the platform. 

If a merger were to instrumentality place, it would springiness hundreds of millions of dollars successful backing to Trump Media. It has already faced a bid of ineligible and fiscal obstacles. The woody has been the taxable of a transgression probe and its hold has resulted successful the nonaccomplishment of implicit $100 cardinal successful investment. 

The erstwhile president antecedently said helium could instrumentality the institution private. Internal documents person shown that Trump Media besides considered mergers and partnerships with different right-wing-friendly platforms, including Rumble and Parler. 

Over the weekend, Elon Musk, the caller proprietor of Twitter, reinstated Trump on the societal media platform. Twitter banned Trump successful the aftermath of the Jan. 6, 2021, insurrection astatine the U.S. Capitol, wherever hundreds of his supporters rioted and disrupted lawmakers who were formally counting Electoral College votes. The erstwhile president has yet to tweet since his reinstatement.

"I would expect Truth [Social] to beryllium the main level for the president's tweets, or, his truths," Orlando said during the fireside chat Tuesday. "At Digital World, we don't really power thing to bash with Truth and its users astatine this point. But we're watching it, and we truly similar what we spot with idiosyncratic engagement."

The peculiar intent acquisition conveyance has besides been dealing with the fallout from a Trump Media executive's whistleblower ailment to national regulators. William Wilkerson, a elder vice president astatine Trump Media, had filed a whistleblower complaint alleging securities violations successful August. Wilkerson has described himself arsenic 1 of the company's founders and said helium nary longer believes successful its viability. 

In September, the institution said it mislaid $138.5 cardinal of the $1 cardinal successful financing from backstage investors successful nationalist equity, besides known arsenic PIPE, to money the merger. That aforesaid month, DWAC changed its mailing address to a UPS Store successful Miami. 

In caller days, DWAC lost 1 of its committee members erstwhile Justin Shaner, CEO of Shaner Properties successful South Florida, resigned, according to a securities filing.

–CNBC's Jack Stebbins contributed to this article.