Digital World Acquisition Corp., a special-purpose buyout firm, said Thursday it had not yet received enough shareholder votes to extend the deadline for its merger with Trump’s start-up — a necessary step to unlock the $1.3 billion dollars in pooled funds. The company had been scheduled for liquidation on Thursday unless its investors approve an extension or the company’s sponsor pays to delay the deadline itself. But Digital World chief Patrick Orlando said late Thursday that the company would postpone a much-anticipated meeting to Oct. 10 without elaborating, indicating the company is still trying to garner enough support from shareholders. The company said in filings that Arc Capital, the Shanghai-based investment advisory firm that funds and sponsors Digital World, could pay $2.8 million to give the company another three months to sign the deal without the shareholder approval. Even that may not be enough time. Ongoing investigations by the Securities and Exchange Commission and federal prosecutors have frozen the merger indefinitely. In an SEC filing Wednesday, Digital World reprinted an excerpt from a pro-Trump blog post urging the SEC to “complete its investigation.” Digital World’s charter allows its executives another three-month extension after that, at a similar cost, to complete the deal. If the merger isn’t completed by then, Digital World said it could be forced into liquidation, returning all of its money to investors and leaving Trump’s operation with nothing. The loss once again casts doubt on the main backer of Trump’s post-presidency business ventures. Digital World has long been touted as Truth Social’s central source of funding, and there’s no clear financial replacement if that money goes away. Trump’s company said it is working to sell ads to Truth Social, but has yet to report revenue. In May, Digital World said in an SEC filing that Trump’s company was running out of loans, including $15 million in bridge financing since the beginning of the year, that could allow it to pay its bills through at least April 2023 . Trump tried to downplay the issue, posting this weekend on Truth Social, “I don’t need funding, ‘I’m really rich!’ But the company is already facing a dispute with a conservative online services company over alleged unpaid bills. Trump’s Truth Social is headed for a financial cliff Digital World needed 65 percent of its shareholders to vote in favor of extending the deal for another year. But not enough were voted in, Orlando said. Orlando and other investors had campaigned heavily in recent days to garner enough support from shareholders, including Truth Social, a Twitter clone that has experienced technical problems and low activity in the more than six months since its launch. “We’re in the middle of this potentially historic vote, and I just want to make sure that everybody’s ‘re-truthing’, ‘quote-truthing’ follows each other and making sure that DWAC shareholders are not left behind,” Orlando said. in a Truth Social video last week, using the platform’s words for “retweet” and “quote tweet.” The meeting was originally scheduled for Tuesday but was postponed so the company could record more votes, Orlando said. On Thursday, the meeting was adjourned twice more before Orlando spoke at 5 p.m., saying the meeting would be adjourned once more until October 10. Digital World’s share price rose about 1 percent on Thursday to $23, and fell in trading after the postponement. It has fallen nearly 90 percent from its peak of $175 shortly after its market debut. Shortly before adjourning the meeting, Orlando wrote to Truth Social that “important information” would be released on the site later Thursday. Some on the site responded with concern about the move. “This is not good. They should at least have questions,” one user wrote. Trump’s Truth Social’s Disruptive Launch Raises Doubts About Its Long-Term Sustainability Truth Social has become Trump’s main online mouthpiece, though his audience there is about 95 percent smaller than the Twitter following he gained before losing the White House. Trump was banned from all major social networks after his supporters stormed the US Capitol over his false allegations of election fraud on January 6, 2021. Truth Social has other things to worry about besides its financial survival. Google told Trump’s company last month it wouldn’t let Truth Social go on the Android app store until it showed it was effectively moderating posts on the site, including removing physical threats and incitement to violence, a Google spokesman said in Washington Post. . Both companies said they are working on the issue. Google sent its notice to the company about a week after an armored gunman tried to break into the FBI office in Cincinnati, an agency that Trump routinely denounces. Ricky Shiffer, the suspect who police said was killed in a shootout, was a prolific user on Truth Social, urging followers to “kill [FBI agents] in sight.”
