Key Investor Bails After Learning He's In New Trump Company: 'Not A Close Call'
Trump's new social media company shot up in value, but at least one investor says it's not about the money.
By Ed Mazza
10/22/2021
Donald Trump’s proposed social media company came as news to some of its investors ― and at least one pulled out when he learned his money was now tied to the former president.
“Many investors are grappling with hard questions about how to incorporate their values into their work,” hedge fund manager Boaz Weinstein told The New York Times in a statement. “For us, this was not a close call.”
The newspaper said Weinstein’s Saba Capital had been a major investor in Digital World, a special purpose acquisition company, or SPAC, formed for the purpose of acquiring another company.
As is common in SPAC arrangements, investors put their cash in before the acquisition target was chosen. When Weinstein learned it would be with Trump’s firm, he bailed.
Trump announced the new company this week, saying it would launch a right-wing rival to Twitter called Truth Social. Shares in the company more than tripled on Thursday, the day after the deal was announced.
One unnamed investor who held 10% of the company told the Financial Times he sold everything as soon as he could.
“The idea that would help [Trump] build out a fake news business called Truth makes me want to throw up,” he said.
It’s not clear if that investor was Weinstein.
Another large investor seemed much happier with the deal.
“When you partner with the right sponsor teams that have a clear vision on their targets, good things can happen quickly,” David Puritz of Shaolin Capital Management told the Financial Times.
Reuters noted the company was founded by Patrick Orlando, who has formed at least four other SPACs and has plans for two more, but so far none have led to a completed deal.
10/22/2021
Donald Trump’s proposed social media company came as news to some of its investors ― and at least one pulled out when he learned his money was now tied to the former president.
“Many investors are grappling with hard questions about how to incorporate their values into their work,” hedge fund manager Boaz Weinstein told The New York Times in a statement. “For us, this was not a close call.”
The newspaper said Weinstein’s Saba Capital had been a major investor in Digital World, a special purpose acquisition company, or SPAC, formed for the purpose of acquiring another company.
As is common in SPAC arrangements, investors put their cash in before the acquisition target was chosen. When Weinstein learned it would be with Trump’s firm, he bailed.
Trump announced the new company this week, saying it would launch a right-wing rival to Twitter called Truth Social. Shares in the company more than tripled on Thursday, the day after the deal was announced.
One unnamed investor who held 10% of the company told the Financial Times he sold everything as soon as he could.
“The idea that would help [Trump] build out a fake news business called Truth makes me want to throw up,” he said.
It’s not clear if that investor was Weinstein.
Another large investor seemed much happier with the deal.
“When you partner with the right sponsor teams that have a clear vision on their targets, good things can happen quickly,” David Puritz of Shaolin Capital Management told the Financial Times.
Reuters noted the company was founded by Patrick Orlando, who has formed at least four other SPACs and has plans for two more, but so far none have led to a completed deal.
Trading in Trump's new social media SPAC halted due to volatility
Agence France-Presse
October 22, 2021
An investment vehicle linked to former President Trump's social media startup has soared the last two days on Wall Street (AFP/Chris DELMAS)
A new investment vehicle linked to former US president Donald Trump's fledgling social media venture surged early Friday before trading was temporarily halted due to the volatility.
Shares of Digital World Acquisition Corp, which is set to merge with Trump's "TRUTH Social" media startup, surged more than 200 percent before being suspended for several minutes on the Nasdaq.
Near 1435 GMT, shares were up 115.4 percent at $98.01.
Digital World, a special purpose acquisition company (SPAC), jumped 357 percent on Thursday following announcement of the merger.
A joint press release from the Trump Media and Technology Group and Digital World described the venture as "a rival to the liberal media consortium and fight against the 'Big Tech' companies of Silicon Valley, which have used their unilateral power to silence opposing voices in America."
The companies said a "nationwide rollout" of the venture is expected in the first quarter of 2022.
As president, Trump set the national media agenda with aggressive use of social media sites such as Twitter and Facebook.
But Trump was tossed from both platforms after he goaded supporters into a violent takeover of the US Capitol on January 6 of this year.
A SPAC is sometimes called a "blank check" company because it is set up with the sole purpose of merging with another entity.
Use of SPACs has soared in the last couple of years amid low interest rates, including on Thursday, when office-sharing company WeWork employed the strategy to go public.
Agence France-Presse
October 22, 2021
An investment vehicle linked to former President Trump's social media startup has soared the last two days on Wall Street (AFP/Chris DELMAS)
A new investment vehicle linked to former US president Donald Trump's fledgling social media venture surged early Friday before trading was temporarily halted due to the volatility.
Shares of Digital World Acquisition Corp, which is set to merge with Trump's "TRUTH Social" media startup, surged more than 200 percent before being suspended for several minutes on the Nasdaq.
Near 1435 GMT, shares were up 115.4 percent at $98.01.
Digital World, a special purpose acquisition company (SPAC), jumped 357 percent on Thursday following announcement of the merger.
A joint press release from the Trump Media and Technology Group and Digital World described the venture as "a rival to the liberal media consortium and fight against the 'Big Tech' companies of Silicon Valley, which have used their unilateral power to silence opposing voices in America."
The companies said a "nationwide rollout" of the venture is expected in the first quarter of 2022.
As president, Trump set the national media agenda with aggressive use of social media sites such as Twitter and Facebook.
But Trump was tossed from both platforms after he goaded supporters into a violent takeover of the US Capitol on January 6 of this year.
A SPAC is sometimes called a "blank check" company because it is set up with the sole purpose of merging with another entity.
Use of SPACs has soared in the last couple of years amid low interest rates, including on Thursday, when office-sharing company WeWork employed the strategy to go public.
Trump's Social Media Platform Could Already Face Legal Issues, After Allegedly Ripping Off Code
The Don has released a beta of his new social media platform and, predictably, it's a knock-off version of an already existing platform.
By Lucas Ropek
The most recent former president’s new social media platform—goofily called The Truth Social—would appear to be sourced from derivative code that could potentially get him sued.
Fresh off his last failed business venture as 45th leader of the free world, Donald Trump has now wandered into his next act: tech mogul. After getting kicked off of Twitter, Facebook, and other major social media sites, the Don recently announced the launch of his own platform—a place where MAGA sensibilities can reign supreme, whatever that might entail.
Much has already been written about the fact that Truth Social is basically a reincarnation of Trump’s first love: Twitter. On it, you can post “Truths” (aka tweets), “Re-Truths” (retweets), and there’s also a “Truth Feed” (Twitter feed). Since Trump’s modus operandi has classically been to take something that somebody else already did, stamp his big, fat, bolded name on it, promise it’s going to be better, and then make it worse, this is pretty much par for the course.
However, it would appear that Trump’s new site is not only unoriginal in concept but also in code. As originally reported by Vice News, Truth Social seems to have lifted its digital DNA directly from Mastodon, the open-source alternative social network known for its focus on user privacy and autonomy.
The Don has released a beta of his new social media platform and, predictably, it's a knock-off version of an already existing platform.
By Lucas Ropek
The most recent former president’s new social media platform—goofily called The Truth Social—would appear to be sourced from derivative code that could potentially get him sued.
Fresh off his last failed business venture as 45th leader of the free world, Donald Trump has now wandered into his next act: tech mogul. After getting kicked off of Twitter, Facebook, and other major social media sites, the Don recently announced the launch of his own platform—a place where MAGA sensibilities can reign supreme, whatever that might entail.
Much has already been written about the fact that Truth Social is basically a reincarnation of Trump’s first love: Twitter. On it, you can post “Truths” (aka tweets), “Re-Truths” (retweets), and there’s also a “Truth Feed” (Twitter feed). Since Trump’s modus operandi has classically been to take something that somebody else already did, stamp his big, fat, bolded name on it, promise it’s going to be better, and then make it worse, this is pretty much par for the course.
However, it would appear that Trump’s new site is not only unoriginal in concept but also in code. As originally reported by Vice News, Truth Social seems to have lifted its digital DNA directly from Mastodon, the open-source alternative social network known for its focus on user privacy and autonomy.
Similarities in the code were first spotted by early users of the platform, who noted front-end similarities between it and Mastodon. One user even took a screenshot of the HTML of Trump’s new site which shows explicit mention of Mastodon in the code. Mastodon subsequently had fun with this, tweeting out a reference to Trump’s apparent familiarity with their platform:
Think of it this way, if *he* manages to use Mastodon, you have no excuse saying it's too complicated
— Mastodon 🐘 (@joinmastodon) October 21, 2021Actually, it isn’t all that unusual for other organizations to use Mastodon’s code, because it has a generous open-source policy. Users can create a software “fork,” essentially a modified version of the company’s code for their own purposes, so long as they abide by certain legally mandated stipulations in Mastodon’s terms of service. Somewhat predictably, Truth Social appears to have snatched the code but failed to abide by its terms.
Mastodon leases its software under something called an AGPLv3 license, which basically stipulates that users can use its code so long as they acknowledge where it came from and make the copied or modified code available for public inspection. However, in its own terms of service, Truth Social claims that “all source code” from its software is proprietary, essentially failing to mention that it lifted it from somewhere else.
Mastodon leases its software under something called an AGPLv3 license, which basically stipulates that users can use its code so long as they acknowledge where it came from and make the copied or modified code available for public inspection. However, in its own terms of service, Truth Social claims that “all source code” from its software is proprietary, essentially failing to mention that it lifted it from somewhere else.
Speaking with Vice, Mastodon founder Eugen Rochko said that Truth Social’s platform appeared to be “absolutely” based on Mastodon’s code and that it would “indicate a license violation.” Rochko subsequently told Talking Points Memo that his team would lawyer up to consider the potential breach of terms.
“I do intend to seek legal counsel on the situation,” he told the outlet. “Compliance with our AGPLv3 license is very important to me, as that is the sole basis upon which I and other developers are willing to give away years of work for free,” he added.
When reached via email, Rochko repeated much of the same to Gizmodo. “I believe that as of this time Truth Social indeed seems to be using Mastodon code. If you look at these screenshots and compare them to any standard Mastodon installation it will be pretty obvious,” he said, of the posts on Twitter. We reached out to the Trump Media & Technology Group (the owner of Truth Social) for clarification on the whole situation and will update this post if they respond.
“I do intend to seek legal counsel on the situation,” he told the outlet. “Compliance with our AGPLv3 license is very important to me, as that is the sole basis upon which I and other developers are willing to give away years of work for free,” he added.
When reached via email, Rochko repeated much of the same to Gizmodo. “I believe that as of this time Truth Social indeed seems to be using Mastodon code. If you look at these screenshots and compare them to any standard Mastodon installation it will be pretty obvious,” he said, of the posts on Twitter. We reached out to the Trump Media & Technology Group (the owner of Truth Social) for clarification on the whole situation and will update this post if they respond.
As you can see, the front-end of Trump’s new site looks quite similar to Mastodon:
Trump taking something that was offered freely, exploiting it, and then failing to give due credit sorta seems like the most Trump move ever. I guess we will have to wait to see if Truth Social sprouts wings and becomes some new, seething hub for online horribleness—or whether the site will be strangled out of the gate by various controversies, like a potential lawsuit from its digital progenitor.
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