© Reuters. FILE PHOTO: Republican presidential candidate and former U.S. President Donald Trump speaks as he campaigns at the Iowa State Fair in Des Moines, Iowa, U.S. August 12, 2023. REUTERS/Evelyn Hockstein/File Photo
By Svea Herbst-Bayliss and Helen Coster
NEW YORK (Reuters) – Investors in the blank-check acquisition company that plans to merge with former U.S. President Donald Trump’s social media firm on Tuesday voted to give the firm an extension of up to one year to complete the Digital World Acquisition Corp (DWAC) deal.
After a number of delays, enough shareholders agreed to give DWAC up to an additional 12 months to finalize its plans with Trump Media & Technology Group (TMTG), a person familiar with the vote said on Tuesday.
Digital World needed to get 65% of its roughly 400,000 shareholders to vote to approve the extension.
DWAC and TMTG were not immediately available for comment.
Time was running out for Digital World ahead of a Sept. 8 deadline where the corporate charter would require the company to liquidate and return to current shareholders the $300 million it raised in its initial public offering in 2021 if shareholders did not approve the extension.
Digital World’s stock traded at $16.77 on Tuesday, up 1.6% on the day but down from its peak of around $97 a share in March, 2022.
Digital World has faced a series of challenges since the October 2021 announcement that it was planning to acquire TMTG. It has been the target of investigations by the U.S. Department of Justice and the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).
If DWAC’s deal with TMTG closes, Trump Media would gain access to more than $1 billion in cash from DWAC’s institutional investors, such as hedge funds. According to a Feb. 2, 2021 services agreement, Trump controls 90% of Trump Media.
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