Trading in Trump's new social media SPAC halted due to volatility

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.