The company behind Donald Trump’s new social media platform is already seeing massive stock market gains despite not having any financial results or even a live product.
As a result of the constant activity, trading on shares of Digital World Acquisition Corp was halted 12 times during the morning. This was due to wild fluctuations in its value.
DWAC stands for a special purpose acquisition corporation, also known as a blank check company. These firms go public to raise money for a private acquisition company. They would then become publicly traded and avoid the lengthy public offering process.
DWAC saw its market cap rise 300 percent to hit $1.5 billion after announcing its merger with Trump Media & Technology Group on Thursday, Donald Trump’s newest venture.
Although the firm is not yet profitable or has a business plan, it has raised close to $300 million in cash from investors. It will be his launchpad for Truth Social, his social-media site.
On Trump Media & Technology Group’s website, the company outlines its goal to ‘create a media powerhouse to rival the liberal media consortium and fight back against the Big Tech companies of Silicon Valley.’
WallStreetBets describes itself as “like 4chan discovered a Bloomberg Terminal” and is at most partially responsible for Friday’s volatile activity of DWAC shares
Trump is chairman of his new media venture, Trump Media & Technology Group, which is aiming to disrupt Netflix, Amazon, Google and Facebook, among other tech giants
It aims at disrupting a broad range of media companies, including Google, Amazon and Apple.
Trump plans to launch TMTG+, an on-demand streaming service that promises to offer ‘non-woke entertainment’.
The company’s 22-page presentation is publicly available on its website. It explains why the circumstances are right for the brand, but does not detail how it intends to achieve those ambitious goals.
However, this did not stop traders from sending the stock price up 1,200 percent since Wednesday morning.
After a previous high of $175, it was up 138.5 percent today at $108.52
Trump’s social media company, Truth Social, is set to launch widely in the early 2022
Its recent trading was reminiscent, Reuters reports. It was similar to the meme stock frenzy earlier this summer, when an army o retail investors coordinated on internet forums to drive shares in AMC Entertainment and GameStop.
Similar to that, Reddit’s WallStreetBets forum was filled with posts about DWAC’s activities.
Millions upon millions of traders post their losses and wins to the site. You can also find memes expressing joy or frustration at current market conditions.
It describes itself as “Like 4chan discovered a Bloomberg terminal.”
Users celebrated their financial gains from trading DWAC shares last night and this morning, while others posted losses or expressed concern about missing out on potential making money.
Reddit users who are successful expressed gratitude to the former president.
Others also referenced an alt-right meme phrase, ‘Let’s go Brandon,’ which was designed to mock President Joe Biden after a reporter at a NASCAR race misheard the crowd chanting ‘F**k Joe Biden’ for the innocent phrase.
One user wrote: “Thanks Donnie,” “Thanks Brandon”, but most importantly, “Thanks Stop Losses,” with a picture of their profits.
Another user invoked the Trump ‘pee tap’ rumors, first published in the Steele Dossier of 2016.
‘Presenting Daddy Trump’s Golden Showers: 3k->13k GAINZ,’ they wrote along with an image of 359 percent rise in their DWAC value.
One person, however, posted a screenshot that appears to show they lost roughly £44,000 – or about $60,500 in USD.
Others shared memes expressing their anger at the number of times trading DWAC shares had been halted.
One meme was used to accuse DWAC and trading platforms, among other things, of ‘killing them progress’ and being ‘idiotic.
‘It’s like when you were a kid and came in to an unexpected amount of money and your parents took it and said “We’re gonna keep this safe for you”,’ one user wrote.
Reddit’s WallStretBets forum members were able to capitalize upon DWAC celebrations on Friday. Many invoking Trump or Biden memes while doing so
Jamie Rogozinski, WallStreetBets founder, did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
Truth Social had a difficult start to this week, when its beta website was hacked only hours after it was released.
Tech reporters were able find the site, despite it not being available yet, and set-up mock accounts representing Trump or Mike Pence.
Trump, who is chairman of Trump Media & Technology Group, had announced the site would launch in early 2022.
The public URL was soon removed and fake accounts were quickly banned.
Drew Harwell, Washington Post reporter, said that pranksters also created a fake Trump account to post the meme image titled ‘pig poop balls’.
The TRUTH social app is available for preorder on the Apple Appstore. There are plans to launch a beta version of the app for testers in November.
This venture is certain to be a better investment than his previous attempt at owning a publicly traded corporation.
Trump Entertainment Resorts, his casino business, has lost millions over the past decade and filed for bankruptcy multiple time.
Fortune Magazine reports that while his shareholders suffered huge losses, Trump took home $82 million.