Former President Donald Trump’s media company is proving a hit with day traders even though it hasn’t launched yet, Bloomberg reports.
Shares of Digital World Acquisition skyrocketed as much as 1,225% since an announcement that the blank-check company will merge with Trump Media & Technology Group. The stock was up 129% to $104 in early afternoon trading today after volatility triggered at least 12 trading halts during the session.
Trump’s proposed new social platform, dubbed TRUTH, isn’t due to launch until sometime next year, although that has done nothing to diminish interest in the SPAC that his new media company plans to merge with.
It wasn’t all sunshine, lollipops and rainbows, though.
The New York Times reports hedge fund mogul Boaz Weinstein wanted out once news of the Trump deal emerged. He placed a sell order on all of the unrestricted shares in Digital World that his firm, Saba Capital, owned yesterday morning, though Saba still owns some restricted stock that it can’t sell for six months.
Lighthouse Investment Partners also shed its holdings in Digital World after learning of the deal with Trump’s venture, the fund told CNBC. Lighthouse had owned 3.2 million shares, or 11.2% of the SPAC.
“Some investors would rather drink rat poison than be identified with Mr. Trump,” Erik Gordon, a professor at the University of Michigan, told The New York Times’ DealBook.
