Media
U.S. financial regulators investigate Trump social media deal – The Globe and Mail
Wall Street’s top financial regulators are investigating former U.S. President Donald Trump’s $1.25 billion deal to float his new social media venture on the stock market, a filing showed.
Digital World Acquisition Corp, the blank-check acquisition firm that agreed to merge with Trump Media & Technology Group Corp (TMTG), disclosed in a regulatory filing on Monday that the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) and the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority (FINRA) were probing the deal.
TMTG did not respond to Reuters requests for comment.
Digital World said the SEC asked for documents in early November relating to communications between Digital World and TMTG, meetings of Digital World’s board, policies and procedures relating to trading, the identification of banking, telephone, and e-mail addresses and the identities of certain investors.
The SEC stated in its request that its investigation does not mean that the regulator has concluded that anyone violated the law, Digital World added.
Senator Elizabeth Warren had asked the SEC to investigate TMTG’s proposed merger with Digital World over potential violations of securities laws, including whether they had sufficiently disclosed when deal talks began.
The SEC declined to comment on Monday.
The investigations come amid excitement among Trump supporters and retail investors over the planned deal. Frantic trading of Digital World’s shares has driven TMTG’s valuation from $875 million in October to close to $4 billion.
Digital World, whose shares were down 1.8% to $44.14 at 1824 GMT, said FINRA had asked for details in late October and early November about “surrounding events,” including a review of trading, that preceded the announcement of the merger.
FINRA said in its request that its inquiry should not be construed as an indication that any violations of Nasdaq rules or federal securities laws have occurred, Digital World added.
FINRA declined to comment.
Total proceeds
TMTG said on Saturday it had entered into agreements to raise about $1 billion from a group of unidentified investors, bringing the deal’s total proceeds to $1.25 billion.
But TMTG will only receive this money if the deal is completed. A vote required for Digital World shareholders to approve the transaction has yet to be scheduled.
Some on Wall Street have been reluctant to associate with Trump, and the Digital World filings did not disclose which investors backed the $1 billion fundraising.
Trump was banned from top social media platforms after the Jan. 6 attack by his supporters on the U.S. Capitol amid concerns he would inspire further violence. [USN LINK]
The Capitol attack was based on unsubstantiated claims of widespread fraud in last year’s presidential election.
In its first financial projections since the announcement of the merger, Digital World said it expected the average revenue per user of Trump’s social media app, TRUTH Social, to grow to $13.50 in 2026, with 81 million total users.
That is despite the app not having reached even trial mode. TMTG plans to launch the beta version of Truth Social in the first quarter of 2022.
Digital World also said it expected TMTG to reach 40 million total subscribers by 2026. By comparison, social media platform Twitter Inc has over 200 million daily active users.
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Media Circus
Opening arguments began in former President Donald Trump’s criminal trial on Monday, with much of the news media coverage homing in on as many details as possible about the proceedings.
Jon Stewart called the trial a “test of the fairness of the American legal system, but it’s also a test of the media’s ability to cover Donald Trump in a responsible way.”
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Jon Stewart blasted the media for covering the “banal” details of former President Trump’s first of four criminal trials, which began with opening statements Monday following a week of jury selection.
In his Monday night broadcast of “The Daily Show,” Stewart poked fun at the TV news media for tracking Trump’s traffic route from Trump Tower to the courtroom, compiling footage from various outlets, as they tracked each turn his car made.
“Seriously, are we going to follow this guy to court every f‑‑‑ing day? Are you trying to make this O.J. [Simpson]? It’s not a chase. He’s commuting,” Stewart said. “So the media’s first attempt — the very first attempt on the first day — at self-control failed.”
Media outlets have closely covered Trump in recent days, as he makes history as the first U.S. president to stand trial on criminal charges. Trump is also the presumptive GOP nominee for president this year.
Trump currently faces 34 criminal counts of falsifying business records in connection to reimbursements to his then-fixer, Michael Cohen, who paid adult film actress Stormy Daniels $130,000 ahead of the 2016 election to stay quiet about an alleged affair she had with the former president a decade prior. It is the first of four criminal trials Trump will face, and perhaps the only one that will go to a jury before the November election.
Stewart, in his broadcast, took aim at TV news outlets, suggesting they were covering small news alerts as significant breaking news developments.
Stewart pretended a producer was talking in his earpiece and paused midsentence, saying, “Hold on. We’re getting breaking news,” and cut to a clip from an earlier interview conducted by CNN’s Jake Tapper, who similarly cut off his guest momentarily to identify a photo displayed on screen to his audience.
“I’m sorry to interrupt. Just for one second. I apologize,” Tapper said in the clip. “We’re just showing the first image of Donald Trump from inside the courtroom. It’s a still photograph that we’re showing there. Just want to make sure our viewers know what they’re looking at.”
Stewart shot back, saying, “Yes, for our viewers who are just waking up from a 30-year coma, this is what Donald Trump has looked like every day for the past 30 years. Same outfit.”
Stewart ripped CNN again for analyzing the courtroom sketches so closely, saying, “It’s a sketch. Why would anyone analyze a sketch like it was — it’d be like looking at the Last Supper and going, ‘Why do you think Jesus looks so sad here? What do you think? It’s because of Judas?’”
“Look, at some point in this trial, something important and revelatory is going to happen,” Stewart said. “But none of us are going to notice, because of the hours spent on his speculative facial ticks. If the media tries to make us feel like the most mundane bullshit is earth-shattering, we won’t believe you when it’s really interesting.”
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