Former U.S. president and Republican presidential hopeful Donald Trump speaks during a “commit to caucus rally” in Indianola, Iowa, on Jan. 14, 2024.
Christian Monterrosa | Afp | Getty Images
Shares of Digital World Acquisition soared about 15% Tuesday, following former President Donald Trump’s landslide victory in the Iowa caucuses.
The blank check company is scheduled to merge later this year with Trump Media & Technology Group, the operator of the social media platform Truth Social.
Digital World Acquisition extended a deadline for the fourth time last year to merge with the Trump social media platform.
Truth Social has struggled to gain traction since its launch in 2022. Its parent company, headed by former Rep. Devin Nunes, has lost more than $30 million since its founding in 2021.
It has also faced challenges growing its user base beyond Trump and his loyal supporters, and it has less than 5% of the monthly visits of its rival X, formerly known as Twitter, according to website data tracking firm Similarweb.
Still, Trump has remained active on the site, even after X reinstated his account last year.
Shares of Digital World Acquisition have been volatile since its initial public offering in 2021.
On Monday, Trump handily beat his rivals Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis and former United Nations ambassador Nikki Haley in the Iowa caucus, the first nominating contest of the 2024 campaign.
With 99% of the vote tallied, 51% of those who caucused selected Trump, followed by 21% for DeSantis and 19% for Haley.
In his victory speech to supporters Monday night, Trump congratulated his rivals and called for a rare show of unity.
“Whether it’s Republican or Democrat or liberal or conservative, it would be so nice if we could come together and straighten out the world and straighten out the problems and straighten out all of the death and destruction that we’re witnessing that’s practically never been like this,” Trump said.
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