- Digital World Acquisition skyrocketed 357% on Thursday in heavy volume on plans to merge with
Donald Trump 's new media company. - Trump's TRUTH Social network app is available for pre-order on Apple's app store.
Digital World Acquisition stock more than quadrupled in value Thursday on its deal to take former US President Donald Trump's new media company public, with the venture centered on his plan to launch a social media platform.
Digital World Acquisition's Class A shares jumped by 357% to end at $45.50 a piece. Volume exploded to more than 471 million shares compared with an average daily volume of more than 387,000 shares. And DWAC was the most-traded stock in the US equity market Thursday, according to TradingView data.
A handful of investment firms raked in millions of dollars on the back of the jump in Digital World Acquisition's stock.
The SPAC was incorporated in December 2020, and shares began trading in September.
The agreement with Digital World puts an $875 million enterprise value on Trump Media & Technology Group. A potential earnout of $825 million in additional shares could bring the cumulative valuation to $1.7 billion, depending upon the performance of the stock after the merger is completed, Trump Media said in a press release.
"I created TRUTH Social and TMTG to stand up to the tyranny of Big Tech," Trump said in the press statement.
The social network's app is available for pre-order in Apple's App Store and will open to invitees in November, followed by a nationwide rollout in the first quarter of 2022.
Trump's new venture comes as he mulls another run at the White House. It also follows speculation that he would create his own social media site after he was banned or suspended from nearly every major platform, including Facebook, Twitter, and Alphabet's YouTube, after the January 6 attack on the US Capitol.
On January 8, Twitter cited "the risk of further incitement of violence" from Trump's tweets.