Shares of Digital World Acquisition jumped 24% on Wednesday as downloads from Trump’s social network rose nearly tenfold.
For Bloomberg
Posted on 27 Apr 2022
Former President Donald Trump’s social network is back at the top of Apple’s app store, fueling a spike in blank check signing made public by its parent company.
Shares of Digital World Acquisition Corp. jumped 24% on Wednesday as thousands more users gained access to the full functionality of Truth Social and downloads increased nearly tenfold. The special purpose acquisition company, which is merging with Trump Media & Technology Group, had plunged 60% in the previous two months or so.
Wednesday’s rally began in the pre-market hours, following a tweet from Elon Musk, who is buying competitor Twitter Inc., in which he said Truth Social outperformed Twitter and TikTok on Apple’s App Store during the evening. Downloads rose to more than 55,000 on Tuesday from less than 6,000 the previous week, according to Apptopia estimates shared with Bloomberg News. Daily active users of Truth Social also increased to 365,000 on Tuesday, a 20% increase from the previous week.
Truth Social is currently outperforming Twitter and TikTok in the Apple Store pic.twitter.com/RxawVUAYKH
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) April 27, 2022
Still, shares of Digital World cut gains to 10% after Musk tweeted that Truth Social “exists because Twitter censored free speech.” While the stock is still down more than 50% from its March closing high, Digital World is up 380% since its September debut and remains one of the best-performing SPACs.
Devin Nunes, CEO of Trump Media & Technology Group, posted on Truth Social about the app’s rise to the top of the Apple App Store, saying, “TRUTH is becoming home to some of the best talent! on the interwebs!”
Representatives for Trump Media & Technology Group and Digital World did not immediately respond to emails from Bloomberg News requesting comment.
Growing Competition
Digital World has been hit in recent weeks by concerns around Musk’s planned $44 billion purchase of Twitter, concerns over its merger with Trump Media and the resignation of key executives from Truth Social. Last week, hedge fund Kerrisdale Capital Management also published a brief report speculating that a regulatory crackdown would affect its deal.
Details surrounding the former president’s media venture have been scant, and the launch of Truth Social was plagued with snags and delays. The goal of the Trump Media & Technology group is to rival “the liberal media consortium and fight the ‘Big Tech’ companies of Silicon Valley,” according to an October statement.
While the stock previously attracted retail investors, it was not trending on popular chat rooms like WallStreetBets and Reddit’s Stocktwits on Wednesday. Individual investors have raised just $3.78 million in the last two months compared to the more than $220 million they bought in the eight days after the deal was announced in October, data from Vanda shows.