Donald Trump’s social media platform Truth Social got shareholder approval Friday to go public in a deal that could net the former president more than $3.4 billion – on paper at least.
Shareholders of Digital World Acquisition Corp., the blank-check company seeking to merge Trump Media & Technology Group, approved the plan in a vote Friday after multiple delays over the past year.
Trump holds about 58% of the struggling social media platform, which he reportedly tried to sell to Elon Musk last summer as the merger with Digital World faced legal challenges.
Despite his pressing need for cash in the face of billions in legal judgements, however, Trump will likely have to wait at least six months before he could cash out, because major shareholders of the new company will be under what’s called a “lock-up” provision
Lock-up provisions are a common restriction used on Wall Street to prevent big, early investors from dumping their shares when a company goes public, which could hurt a stock’s price by suggesting they don’t have confidence in the company.