Investing

Digital World Acquisition Rallies 15% as Google Approves Trump's Social Media App on The Play Store

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Digital World Acquisition (US:DWAC) shares closed 14.66% higher on Thursday after rallying as much as 37.1% higher to $21.88 in mid-morning trading.

The SPAC moved higher on news that Donald Trump’s social media company app, Truth Social had been approved to be added to the Google Play Store.

A representative from Google told media outlets that they first notified Truth Social on the 19th of August regarding several violations of standard policies in their app submission and rejected the application.

Since the initial application, Truth Social had consistent dialogue with Google representatives that ultimately resulted in Truth updating their policies which lead to the application being approved.

Trust Social also agreed to enforce the website policies and moderate user content that may violate Google’s standards.

Now that the app has been approved, Truth Social may choose to officially publish the product in the app store at any time they choose, which could be sooner rather than later.

CEO of Trump Media and Technology Group, Devin Nunes in a statement told news outlets, “It’s been a pleasure to work with Google and we’re glad they helped us to finally bring Truth Social to all Americans, regardless of what device they use”

Nunes also told investors “Today marks a significant milestone in our mission to restore free speech online”

Digital World Acquisition initially announced merger plans with Truth Social back in October 2021. Since the initial announcement, there has been significant controversy among PIPE investors and whether they still want the merger to proceed.

Most recently, this Monday on the 10th of October,  DWAC announced a further adjournment of its special meeting  to approve the business combination with Truth Social.

The recent Google approval now removes a roadblock for Truth Social which may now be able to edge closer to completing a deal with Digital World Acquisition.

The Digital World SPAC has been a strong performer since initially listing at the $10 prince in early October 2021. DWAC’s price rallied more than 800% shortly after listing as news of the potential merger with Trump Social was released.

After a bumpy ride over the last year, the SPAC has traded back lower towards the $10 listing price following all the recent controversy with the fund’s investors. Despite the recent weakness, DWAC remains up 84% since listing.

Sentiment in the underlying options market for the DWAC SPAC remains bearish with a put/call ratio of 1.87. This key indicator from the Fintel platform analyses all put and call open interest over time as a function to indicate bullish and bearish demand for a stock.

Put open interest for DWAC has risen significantly relative to call interest since March of 2022 as investors look to protect gains from a significantly inflated SPAC price.

DWAC is the 487th most held security by retail investors that have linked their portfolio for Free with the Fintel platform.

In addition to the retail investors, DWAC has 29 institutional owners on the register that own 1.1 million shares. Some of these institutions include: Millennium Management, Zazove Associates, VR Advisory, Aristeia Capital, Marshall Wace, Jane Street Group and Wolverine Asset Management.

This article originally appeared on Fintel

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