A key decision over whether Donald Trump’s social media platform Truth Social will merge with a cash-rich company and get $1.3-billion to take on Twitter has been put off for another month.
If a new deal deadline isn’t approved at a shareholder meeting on Oct. 10, Digital World can still play for time. It can delay the deadline by three months if sponsors backing its company pay nearly $3-million into a trust account, then delay again for another three months for the same payment. The company has said previously it would chose to delay three months if necessary.
Digital World’s deal with Trump’s company was troubled almost from the start. In November, the Securities and Exchange Commission requested documents from Digital World following news reports that it had talked with Trump representatives about joining forces before selling its own stock to the public for the first time, a possible violation of security rules.
A merger would release to Trump Media $290-million held by Digital World and another $1-billion that private investors had committed to the combined company. Until then, Trump’s company is on its own, paying staff, leases and other expenses from $36-million raised from sales of promissory notes last year and earlier this year.