Report typos and corrections to: corrections@rawstory.com.
A new investment vehicle linked to Donald Trump's fledgling media venture soared again Friday in a frenzy that reflects the former president's staying power, as well as a stock market increasingly prone to casino-like tendencies.
Shares of Digital World Acquisition Corp, which is set to merge with Trump's Media & Technology Group (TMTG) startup, surged Friday prompting a temporary trading halt for a second straight day.
Shares ended at $94.20, more than doubling its value from Thursday and more than nine times the price on Wednesday afternoon before the venture was announced.
"It's a piling in effect. Everyone is just hoping the next person who comes is willing to pay more," said Briefing.com analyst Patrick O'Hare.
While Trump remains a beloved figure to a sizable minority of the US population, pundits said he could face challenges in building the sort of "media powerhouse" described by in a TMTG presentation, which includes plans for social media and streaming services.
Digital World, which trades under the ticker "DWAC" on Nasdaq, is a special purpose acquisition company (SPAC), sometimes called a "blank check" company because it is set up with the sole purpose of merging with another entity.
The ventures raised $293 million in an initial public offering in September.
Use of SPACs has soared in the last couple of years amid low interest rates, as investors look for higher returns, and provides a short cut to sell shares publicly. Office-sharing company WeWork employed the strategy to go public on Thursday.
A joint press release from the TMTG and Digital World said the companies plan to launch "TRUTH Social" a social media platform nationally early next year.
The new outlet will serve "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."
New GameStop?
Trump set the national media agenda with aggressive use of social media sites such as Twitter and Facebook, a technique that propelled him to the presidency, where he frequently announced policies with tweets.
But the former president was tossed from both platforms after he goaded supporters into a violent takeover of the US Capitol on January 6 of this year while falsely claiming election results were fraudulent.
In the wake of those events, Trump's hotel business lost key deals with the Professional Golf Association, among other groups.
Following the Trump deal, Saba Capital sold most of its shares in Digital World in a reprimand of the former president, The New York Times reported.
While Trump has been underestimated before, some commentators noted that TMTG will face hurdles.
In the aftermath of January 6, the conservative social media site Parler was cut off from platforms operated by Amazon, Apple and Google because of concerns on how it was policing content that incited violence.
Rich Greenfield, partner at research firm LightShed Ventures, said TMTG likewise could get "boxed out" since it is not initially focusing on building its own Internet infrastructure.
"If it's like Parler, they're going to run into the same problem," Greenfield told CNBC.
Other experts noted that successful social media firms require a growing mass of users who post frequently, a challenge to recreate given the existing platforms.
The jump in the DWAC share price is reminiscent of outsized gains earlier this year by GameStop and other so-called "meme" stocks that soared in ways detached from business fundamentals, O'Hare said.
"It's gambling," he added. "There is no fundamental reason you're seeing the moves you're seeing."
Some on Wall Street Bets, a Reddit platform central to the meme stock phenomenon, also saw parallels.
"Turns out that DWAC was the new GME," one user wrote, referring to GameStop's ticker symbol.
CONTINUE READING
Show less
Actors and movie makers in Hollywood were mourning the death of a rising star of their business Friday, but there was also anger over how Halyna Hutchins could have been killed when Alec Baldwin fired a prop gun.
"I am gutted and just so mad right now," tweeted filmmaker Rachel Morrison. "No shot, no scene and no movie is worth the loss of life. #RIPHalynaHutchins"
Hutchins was cinematographer on 19th-century western "Rust", which was filming at the Bonanza Creek Ranch in the US state of New Mexico, when the incident occurred Thursday.
The 42-year-old, who was reportedly hit in the stomach, was airlifted to hospital, where she was later declared dead.
Director Joel Souza was also hurt, but was released after emergency care.
Actor Elijah Wood, who worked with Hutchins on superhero thriller "Archenemy" said: "Absolutely horrifying and devastating news about cinematographer Halyna Hutchins. My heart goes out to her family."
Fellow "Archemeny" alum Adam Egypt Mortimer said he was "so sad" and "infuriated that this could happen on a set."
"She was a brilliant talent who was absolutely committed to art and to film."
The tragedy recalled the death of Brandon Lee, son of the legendary Bruce Lee, who died from a gunshot wound incurred on the set of the 1993 film "The Crow."
"Our hearts go out to the family of Halyna Hutchins and to Joel Souza and all involved in the incident on 'Rust'," said Shannon Lee, Brandon's sister and Bruce's daughter.
"No one should ever be killed by a gun on a film set. Period."
Hutchins was born in Ukraine and lived in Los Angeles.
In 2019, she was named by American Cinematographer magazine as one of the industry's rising stars in 2019, according to the organization's website.
"Deeply sad," wrote entertainment journalist Rebecca Keegan. "Halyna was talented and cool. Last time we talked was Cannes 2017 and she was brimming with energy and excitement."
Innovative Artists, who represented Hutchins described her as "a ray of light. Always smiling, always hopeful."
"She decided early on she would take the craft of cinematography by storm and the last couple of years proved she was well on her way. Her talent was immense."
Filmmaker Rachel Morrison questioned the use of real guns during filming.
"Why the f+++ are we still using blanks when it costs like 50 (cents) to add gunfire in post (production)? If you can't afford to make a movie safely, you shouldn't be making it at all."
CONTINUE READING
Show less
The White House said Friday it would delay the release of long-classified documents related to the assassination of US President John F. Kennedy.
President Joe Biden wrote in a statement that the remaining files "shall be withheld from full public disclosure" until December 15 next year -- nearly 60 years after Kennedy's assassination in Dallas, Texas in 1963.
In 2018, former president Donald Trump released several thousand secret files on the assassination, but withheld others on national security grounds.
The White House said the national archivist needs more time for a review into that redaction, which was slowed by the pandemic.
Biden also said the delay was "necessary to protect against identifiable harm to the military defense, intelligence operations, law enforcement, or the conduct of foreign relations" and that this "outweighs the public interest in immediate disclosure."
The assassination of the 46-year-old president was a "profound national tragedy" that "continues to resonate in American history and in the memories of so many Americans who were alive on that terrible day," the statement said.
A 10-month investigation led by then-Supreme Court chief justice Earl Warren concluded that Lee Harvey Oswald, a former Marine who had lived in the Soviet Union, acted alone when he fired on Kennedy's motorcade.
But the Commission's investigation was criticised for being incomplete, with a Congressional committee later concluding that Kennedy was "probably assassinated as a result of a conspiracy."
US law requires that all government records on the assassination be disclosed "to enable the public to become fully informed."
CONTINUE READING
Show less
Copyright © 2021 Raw Story Media, Inc. PO Box 21050, Washington, D.C. 20009 | Masthead | Privacy Policy | For corrections or concerns, please email corrections@rawstory.com.
Don't Sit on the Sidelines of History. Join Raw Story Investigates and Go Ad-Free. Support Honest Journalism.
Subscribe Annually
$95 / year — Just $7.91/month
Subscribe Monthly
$1 trial
I want to Support More
$14.99 per month
{{ post.roar_specific_data.api_data.analytics }}