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A new social media company launched earlier this year by former President Donald Trump has announced that its special purpose acquisition partner firm has secured agreements for $1 billion in funding from institutional investors.
The former president launched Trump Media & Technology Group in October when he also unveiled plans for a new messaging app called “Truth Social” as a Twitter rival and as a competitor to other social media platforms that banned him after they blamed him for the Jan. 6 riot at the U.S. Capitol Building.
TMTG’s goal is to become a publicly listed firm via a merger with Digital World Acquisition Corp., a special purpose company that is already publicly traded and whose only purpose is to acquire a private company and make it public, Fox Business reported on Saturday.
A press release issued Saturday by Trump Media and Digital World did not identify the institutional investors, but it did say that the funding is coming from “a diverse group” of investors after both companies are merged.
Digital World noted in the press release that the $1 billion is in addition to the $293 million, minus expenses, that it may put up.
“I am confident that TMTG can effectively deploy this capital to accelerate and strengthen the execution of its business, including by continuing to attract top talent, hire top technology providers, and roll out significant advertising and business development campaigns,” Digital World CEO Patrick Orlando noted in the release.
“$1 billion sends an important message to Big Tech that censorship and political discrimination must end. America is ready for TRUTH Social, a platform that will not discriminate on the basis of political ideology,” noted Trump in a statement as well. “As our balance sheet expands, TMTG will be in a stronger position to fight back against the tyranny of Big Tech.
Trump, meanwhile, as chairman of TMTG, stands to make tens of millions in special bonus shares if the company does well, in addition to potentially earning billions in paper wealth.
After Trump announced the new platform, Digital World shares soared more than 1,600 percent to $175 a share before settling back to $90 a share on Wall Street. TRUTH Social, Trump said, is a means “to stand up to the tyranny of Big Tech,” according to an announcement.
“We live in a world where the Taliban has a huge presence on Twitter, yet your favorite American President has been silenced,” Trump noted at the time. “This is unacceptable.”
“TMTG was founded with a mission to give a voice to all,” Trump said. “I’m excited to soon begin sharing my thoughts on TRUTH Social and to fight back against Big Tech.”
Special invited guests began having access to the platform in November, likely as a way to help developers iron out any bugs. The public version is expected to be rolled out sometime during the first quarter of 2022.
“This new platform is gonna be big, and everyone wants him. He’s gonna bring millions and millions, tens of millions, of people to this new platform,” key adviser Jason Miller said in March.
Miller, in the meantime, has since co-launched another Twitter competitor, GETTR.
Jon has over 30 years' worth of reporting experience, as well as an author and U.S. Army veteran. He has a BA in political science from Ashford University and an MA in national security studies/intelligence analysis from American Military University.
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