Yes, the company went public. No, it is not a financial success—or even a lifeboat.
Debuting on the charts w/a “DJT” ticker, #TrumpMedia saw a 55% surge in valuation right after markets opened.
Huge influx of cash, right? w/Trump holding ~79M shares, equating to 58% of available stock, the #SPAC debut balloons his #NetWorth by nearly $5B; there were ~136M shares outstanding post-merger.
You may be wondering just whence that staggering #valuation arises,then. There are a couple factors at play—namely, rich friends & retail-level suckers.
…As a #ShellCompany established w/the express purpose of gathering #investments & absorbing them into the minimally operational #TrumpMedia, #DWAC curried investments from all manner of private institutions,most significantly #SIG… meaning #JeffYass, the #Republican#megadonor who’s been floated as potential #treasury sec if #Trump is reelected.
#JeffYass’s firm holds a 2% stake in #DWAC &, considering its other assets, can afford some hits as long as #Yass gets to own the libs.
On #TrumpMedia’s end, its current board of directors is hardly lacking in wealth, or loyalty: The CEO is fmr Rep #DevinNunes, & his teammates include #DonaldTrumpJr + fmr #Trump admin members #KashPatel, #RobertLighthizer, & Linda McMahon (as in, yes, the wife of embattled wrestling magnate Vince McMahon).
…that’ll only work if #Trump has confidence in his #platform & doesn’t dump a bunch of #stock, or even give a hint he’s thinking of doing such a thing (like by requesting a waiver), which would scare smaller-scale #investors, piss off #JeffYass, & send #TrumpMedia’s valuation plummeting.
…Does Trump have that kind of confidence in his platform?…he still needs money, fast, & not just because he might not have enough liquid cash to even cover the reduced $175M #bond he needs to pay off by April 4.
“Jeff Yass, the billionaire Wall Street financier and Republican megadonor who is a major investor in the parent company of TikTok, was also the biggest institutional shareholder of the shell company that recently merged with former President Donald J. Trump’s social media company.”
"This is where Yass comes in. Most people who currently hold stock in the DWAC, which will soon merge with TMTG, are individual retail investors who support Trump. But the stock's largest institutional investor, which owns more than 2% of the firm, is Susquehanna International Group, Yass' firm."
"If Yass dumps the stock quickly, it could precipitate a broader sell-off that could dramatically reduce the value of Trump's holdings. In other words, Trump has a large personal financial interest in keeping Yass happy."
"The billionaire Wall Street financier is also a major investor in ByteDance, the Chinese parent company of TikTok, which faces a possible ban in the United States."
…Despite his past stances in favor of action against #TikTok for its #Chinese ties, Trump…wrote in a…post…that he opposed the recent bill:
"If you get rid of TikTok, Facebook & Zuckerschmuck [Mark Zuckerberg] will double their business. I don't want Facebook, who cheated in the last Election, doing better. They are a true Enemy of the People!"
…reports note that Trump’s shift came after a meeting w/ #JeffYass
#JeffYass, a #conservative hedge fund manager has a $33B stake in #TikTok. #Yass, according to Intelligencer, has been allegedly threatening to pull support from #GOP lawmakers who back the bipartisan divestment bill.
#Bannon… took to Gettr to make his suspicions about the situation clear.
"Simple: Yass Coin," he wrote in a post that included a link to an Axios story about Trump's flip on TikTok….