NEW YORK (AP) – Regulators in the United States are scrutinizing the deal that could bring Donald Trump’s new social media venture, which has attracted fans of the former president and people seeking, to the New York Stock Exchange. make quick profits.
The company that partnered with Trump Media & Technology Group acknowledged the inquiries in a presentation to regulators on Monday. He also gave some financial forecasts for the company, which it hopes to rival Twitter and other platforms that vetoed Trump, in addition to Netflix and other video streaming services. The company reported over the weekend that there are $ 1 billion in investment pledges from a group of unidentified institutional investors.
Regulatory questions center on the October announcement by Trump’s media company that it would be merging with Digital World Acquisition Corp. (DWAC). That company went public on Wall Street three weeks earlier for the sole purpose of finding a private company to buy.
DWAC said Monday that it is cooperating with “preliminary fact-finding investigations” by the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) and the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority (FINRA).
The SEC requested documents early last month related to DWAC’s board meetings, its business policies and its communications with Trump’s media company, among other things. According to DWAC, the commission’s request stated that the “commission’s investigation does not mean that the SEC has concluded that someone violated the law or that the SEC has a negative opinion of DWAC or any person, event, or security.”
The SEC could be looking at whether DWAC and Trump’s company had talks about a deal before the initial public offering (IPO), said Jay Ritter, a professor at the University of Florida and an expert on IPOs. DWAC raised about $ 293 million in cash through its IPO.
When asked about it, a spokesperson for the securities commission said that “the SEC does not comment on the existence or non-existence of a possible investigation.”