Donald Trump isn’t the only one set to become a lot richer if the former president’s media startup debuts as a public company – at least on paper.
Shareholders are scheduled to vote Friday on whether blank check company Digital World Acquisition Corp. can proceed with taking Trump Media & Technology Group, which runs the Truth Social platform, public. If the long-delayed deal is approved, a number of insiders, from management to sponsors, and even former associates who sued to stall or block the deal, stand to pocket millions of dollars.
“It’ll make quite a few people pretty wealthy on paper, but can they crystallize that wealth? That’ll be TBD,” said Julian Klymochko, chief executive officer of Accelerate Financial Technologies, which has a SPAC-focused fund.
Shares of DWAC, as the special purpose acquisition company or SPAC is known, have held onto a 145% gain this year, meaning stakeholders in the firm are in for a windfall. While the stock has peeled back from a January high, its strong rally in 2024 leaves plenty of room for performance targets to be met that would provide further equity-based rewards.
If shares hold near current levels, Devin Nunes, a former California Representative who left Congress to become CEO of Trump Media, will have a less than 1% stake of the company worth $4.9 million, while DWAC CEO Eric Swider and Trump Media CFO Phillip Juhan eye stakes of $7.7 million and $21 million, respectively. Of course, those returns pale in comparison to the $3.4 billion Trump is set to reap, since he will own more than half of the company, and will get another $1.5 billion in stock if shares keep performing well.
On top of their stakes, Nunes and Juhan are each set to collect retention bonuses of $600,000 if the deal closes.
DWAC moved on Tuesday to ensure that the deal goes through by suing to force its sponsor ARC Global Investments II to vote in favor of the deal. Industry watchers had mixed views on how the lawsuit could impact an approval. However, a terminated pact will cost all parties dearly, including ARC Global — which currently stands to make more than $400 million on the deal.
In its own lawsuit, ARC Global managing partner and former DWAC CEO Patrick Orlando’s firm has been trying to delay the deal arguing it should have an increased position in the new company — potentially bolstering its holding by 26%.
Representatives for DWAC, Trump Media and ARC Global didn’t respond to requests for comment.
Meanwhile, Trump Media co-founders Andy Litinsky and Wes Moss, both former contestants on Trump’s reality show The Apprentice, who have separately sued the SPAC are set to take home about $320 million, with potential for almost $150 million more in earnout shares.
There are a number of caveats to the windfalls. Trump and other stakeholders will have to wait months to cash out because members of Trump Media’s management team are subject to a lock-up period of roughly six months during which they cannot sell or transfer shares, unless the company files to expedite that timing.
The earnouts are also dependent on shares avoiding the fallout that’s typically hit SPAC deals. Trump Media’s goal of rivaling “the liberal media consortium” has proven difficult to achieve. The company is struggling to generate a profit, losing $49 million in the nine months through September while delivering just $3.4 million in revenue.
But so far, investors have paid little attention to the company’s financials as DWAC has cemented its status as a meme stock that traders pour into to bet for or against Trump.
This article was provided by Bloomberg News.