It's a bird, it's a plane, it's...possibly another meme stock?
Digital World Acquisition, the special-purpose acquisition company (SPAC) now tied to the latest media and technology venture of former President Donald Trump, saw its stock soar Friday morning, "triggering a halt for volatility" after quadrupling on Thursday, Bloomberg reports.
The Week
Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.
Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
SPACs work by going public and raising money from investors first, only to then find a private company to merge with, explains The New York Times. Consequently, investors that back a SPAC initially "have no clue" who a merger partner will turn out to be. That means some of DWAC's big investors were likely unaware they were supporting Trump Media and Technology Group until a deal was reached to merge the two companies on Wednesday.
Since that announcement, shares of DWAC have proved "a hit" with day traders, skyrocketing 1,225%, writes Bloomberg. Its price "nearly tripled" to $131.90 when the market opened Friday morning.
The ex-president hopes the deal — which values his media company at about $875 million, including debt — gives him enough cash to launch a new social media app in 2022 dubbed TRUTH Social, whose purpose is "to create a rival to the liberal media consortium and fight back against the 'Big Tech' companies of Silicon Valley." Unfortunately for him, however, it looks like some hackers have already started that war's first battle.
-
Fed cuts interest rates a quarter pointSpeed Read ‘The cut suggests a broader shift toward concern about cracks forming in the job market’
-
ABC shelves ‘Kimmel Live’ after Trump FCC threatSpeed Read ‘A free and democratic society cannot silence comedians because the president doesn’t like what they say’
-
September 18 editorial cartoonsCartoons Thursday's political cartoons include a man who would be king, an inconsistent court, and social media in the trash
-
New York court tosses Trump's $500M fraud fineSpeed Read A divided appeals court threw out a hefty penalty against President Trump for fraudulently inflating his wealth
-
Trump said to seek government stake in IntelSpeed Read The president and Intel CEO Lip-Bu Tan reportedly discussed the proposal at a recent meeting
-
Switzerland could experience unique economic problems from Trump's tariffsIn the Spotlight The current US tariff rate on Switzerland is among the highest in the world
-
US to take 15% cut of AI chip sales to ChinaSpeed Read Nvidia and AMD will pay the Trump administration 15% of their revenue from selling artificial intelligence chips to China
-
Jaguar's Adrian Mardell steps down: a Maga maulingSpeed Read Jaguar Land Rover had come under fire for 'woke' advertising campaign
-
NFL gets ESPN stake in deal with DisneySpeed Read The deal gives the NFL a 10% stake in Disney's ESPN sports empire and gives ESPN ownership of NFL Network
-
Is Trump's tariffs plan working?Today's Big Question Trump has touted 'victories', but inflation is the 'elephant in the room'
-
Samsung to make Tesla chips in $16.5B dealSpeed Read Tesla has signed a deal to get its next-generation chips from Samsung
