Investors dumped shares of Digital World Acquisition Corp., the blank-check firm set to merge with Donald Trump’s social media company, after executives deferred a shareholder vote that was meant to get an extension to complete the deal — signaling uncertainty surrounding the sponsors’ ability to get enough support.
(Bloomberg) — Investors dumped shares of Digital World Acquisition Corp., the blank-check firm set to merge with Donald Trump’s social media company, after executives deferred a shareholder vote that was meant to get an extension to complete the deal — signaling uncertainty surrounding the sponsors’ ability to get enough support.
Executives at the special purpose acquisition company adjourned the meeting to extend the deadline by up to a year until Thursday in an attempt to court retail shareholders to vote, a group that historically misses out on such events.
The SPAC needs 65% of shareholders to support the extension.
Digital World’s shares fell 11% to $22.13 on Tuesday, the lowest close since the deal was announced in October, while warrants tied to the firm sank 18%.
Its shares plunged earlier Tuesday after Reuters reported that sponsors don’t expect to get enough holder support for a one-year extension to complete a deal with Trump Media & Technology Group.
Trading volume for both the stock and warrants were around 10-times higher than normal.
Nearly six million shares changed hands as more than one million warrants were flipped.
Digital World shares soared to $175 after the merger with the former president’s company was announced in October, becoming a favorite among retail traders.
The launch of Trump’s social media site, Truth Social, in February, provided another boost, before disappointing downloads for the platform and regulatory issues facing Digital World weighed on the shares.
The SPAC gave itself a one-year deadline to get a deal done when it debuted last September before risking the need to return the millions it raised to investors.
The sponsor’s terms do give it an option to extend its deadline to up to six months, however, that would cost the team millions of dollars as it would push cash into its trust account.
“I’m not touching it,” said Matthew Tuttle, chief executive officer at Tuttle Capital Management.
The risk is too great and even if the SPAC extends its deadline by six months, “that may just kick the can down the road.”
Retail traders were discussing Digital World, however, they didn’t appear to be actively buying the dip.
The company’s ticker was among the most mentioned on Reddit’s WallStreetBets, but wasn’t among the 30 most traded assets on Fidelity’s platform.
The blank-check firm said in July that a federal grand jury is seeking information from Trump Media & Technology Group about the planned deal, while the Securities and Exchange Commission issued a subpoena for similar information the same week.
Digital World said at the time that the grand jury is also seeking information from certain current and former TMTG personnel.
CF Acquisition Corp. VI, a SPAC taking video platform Rumble Inc. public, rose 14% to the highest since February ahead of a deadline for its shareholder vote next week.
Rumble has a technology and cloud services pact with Trump Media.
(Updates share movement throughout)
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