Trump Media & Technology Group

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Trump Media & Technology Group
TypePrivate
Industry
FoundedFebruary 2021; 1 year ago (2021-02)
HeadquartersPalm Beach, Florida, US
Key people
Donald Trump (Chairman)[1]
Devin Nunes (CEO)
ProductsTruth Social, TMTG+
Websitewww.tmtgcorp.com

Trump Media & Technology Group (TMTG), also known as T Media Tech LLC,[2] is an American media and technology company founded in February 2021 by former U.S. president Donald Trump.[3][4] From January 1, 2022, Republican U.S. representative Devin Nunes resigned his seat to become the organization's CEO.[5][6] It launched a social network called Truth Social February 21, 2022.[7]

Operations[]

TMTG intends to use a special-purpose acquisition company (SPAC) to facilitate its becoming a publicly-traded company. On October 20, 2021, TMTG and Digital World Acquisition Corp. (DWAC), a publicly-traded SPAC, announced that they had entered into a definitive merger agreement that would combine the two entities, allowing TMTG to become a publicly-traded company. DWAC was created with the help of ARC Capital, a Shanghai-based firm specializing in listing Chinese companies on American stock markets that has been a target of SEC investigations for misrepresenting shell corporations.[8][9][10] Some investors were surprised to learn that their investment money was being used to finance a Trump company.[11]

The company's announced future product offerings include a social network (Truth Social) and on-demand programming (TMTG+).[12] The group plans to offer alternative media to challenge the traditional social networks like Facebook, YouTube and Twitter and may attract mainly conservative online viewpoints to its own network. The established social networking companies had earlier shut down President Trump's public pages from their platforms.

In December 2021, TMTG said it had raised $1 billion in private investment in public equity (PIPE) funding. The investors are unidentified. The Financial Times reported the expected proceeds of the PIPE and SPAC funding to TMTG would be $1.25 billion.[13]

On December 14, 2021, TMTG announced that it had entered into a "wide-ranging technology and cloud services agreement” with Rumble, and that Rumble would operate part of the TRUTH Social network as well as TMTG+. [14][15]

In October 2021 CNBC, CNN, and The Washington Post reported that Congresswoman Marjorie Taylor Greene bought shares of DWAC based on information provided by congresstrading.com.[16][17][18]

On February 21, 2022, TMTG released Truth Social on Apple’s iOS.

Legal issues[]

The New York Times reported days after the TMTG deal was announced that the founder of the Digital World Acquisition Corp. SPAC, Miami banker Patrick Orlando, had been discussing the deal with Trump since at least March 2021. The formation of the SPAC was announced in May and it was taken public in September. The Times reported that by summer 2021 people affiliated with TMTG were telling Wall Street investors that the company was nearing a deal to merge with a SPAC. DWAC was not specifically named, but if it was the SPAC in question this may have skirted securities laws and stock exchange rules, since SPACs are not allowed to have a target company in mind prior to going public. Trump and Orlando had initially discussed a deal through another of Orlando's SPACs that was already publicly-traded, but it was deemed too small for the Trump deal. Some bankers told the Times that because the deal discussions began when the first SPAC was being considered, which would be proper, an argument could be made that discussions did not occur after the SPAC was formed, which would be improper. DWAC stated in three prospectuses that it had not had "any substantive discussions, directly or indirectly, with any business combination target."[19]

DWAC disclosed in a December 2021 regulatory filing that the SEC and the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority had weeks earlier asked it for information about stock trading and communications with TMTG prior to their deal being announced.[20][21]

References[]

  1. ^ "Press Release". Trump Media & Technology Group. 20 October 2021. Archived from the original on 22 October 2021. Retrieved 22 October 2021.
  2. ^ "T Media Tech LLC". Apple Store. Retrieved 31 October 2021.
  3. ^ "Division of Corporations - Filing". Department of State: Division of Corporations. State of Delaware. Archived from the original on 21 September 2015. Retrieved 21 October 2021. File number 5022360.
  4. ^ "Exhibit 99". Archives. Securities and Exchange Commission. 20 October 2021. Archived from the original on 22 October 2021. Retrieved 22 October 2021.
  5. ^ Nobles, Ryan (6 December 2021). "Devin Nunes says he's leaving Congress by the end of the year". CNN.
  6. ^ "Current Vacancies of the 117th Congress". Clerk, United States House of Representatives. Retrieved 3 January 2022. Resigned January 01, 2022 / Rep. Devin Nunes
  7. ^ Peters, Jay (6 January 2022). "Trump's Truth Social app will apparently launch in February". The Verge. Retrieved 23 January 2022.
  8. ^ "Trump announces launch of media company, social media site". AP News. 21 October 2021. Archived from the original on 21 October 2021. Retrieved 31 October 2021.
  9. ^ Goldstein, Matthew; Hirsch, Lauren; Enrich, David (29 October 2021). "Trump's $300 Million SPAC Deal May Have Skirted Securities Laws". The New York Times. Retrieved 31 October 2021.
  10. ^ Douglas MacMillan; Jonathan O'Connell (23 December 2021). "Trump's newest business partner: A Chinese firm with a history of SEC investigations". The Washington Post.
  11. ^ Enrich, David; Goldstein, Matthew; Goldmacher, Shane (21 October 2021). "Trump Takes Advantage of Wall Street Fad to Bankroll New Venture" – via NYTimes.com.
  12. ^ "Company Overview". www.tmtgcorp.com. Archived from the original on 21 October 2021. Retrieved 21 October 2021.
  13. ^ Asgari, Nikou; Indap, Sujeet (4 December 2021). "Donald Trump's social media start-up raises $1bn". Financial Times. Retrieved 4 December 2021.
  14. ^ "Former Trump, Nunes Aide Lands Top Legal Job at Rumble Platform". Bloomberg Law. 9 December 2021.
  15. ^ Schnell, Mychael (14 December 2021). "Trump media company inks deal with video platform Rumble". TheHill. Retrieved 14 December 2021.
  16. ^ Franck, Thomas. "Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene bought shares of Trump SPAC..." CNBC. Retrieved 3 December 2021.
  17. ^ Egan, Matt. "Marjorie Taylor Greene invested as much as $50,000 in the Trump SPAC before its stock plunged". CNN. Retrieved 3 December 2021.
  18. ^ Pietsch, Bryan. "Marjorie Taylor Greene buys up to $50,000 worth of Trump SPAC stock during week of wild fluctuation". Washington Post. Retrieved 3 December 2021.
  19. ^ Goldstein, Matthew; Hirsch, Lauren; Enrich, David (29 October 2021). "Trump's $300 Million SPAC Deal May Have Skirted Securities Laws". The New York Times.
  20. ^ Mangan, Dan (6 December 2021). "Trump SPAC under investigation by federal regulators, including SEC". CNBC.
  21. ^ Egan, Matt (6 December 2021). "Federal regulators are investigating the Trump SPAC deal". CNN.
Retrieved from ""