Hat tip to DU for the fast LBN... I just made $11k off of the MAGATS.

[WarGamer]

So yeah... I'm an active market trader, mostly options but some day trading mixed in.

Caught the Trump Social Media/SPAC merger announcement and opened up Robinhood and saw it at $12/share.

Bought 300 shares and watched the ticker... sold at nearly an $11,000 profit.

LMFAO...

Now to go donate to the DNC to figuratively "wash my hands"...

Somewhere there's a mouth breathing double digit IQ slug holding the bag for my new cash...

[IrishAfricanAmerican]

1. Sweet.

[jmbar2]

2. Congratulations!

I looked at it yesterday and went, nahhh.... It was just under $4 then. Damn!

[Hortensis]

3. :) Congratulations, WarGamer.

[RFCalifornia]

4. Save enough for taxes

[WarGamer]

10. Yup... every year my accountant gets a few hundred pages from the broker.

[nitpicker]

40. Remember you probably will owe estimated taxes

Unless you are so well-off that this is just a drop in the bucket.

I just sold a place, then realised on 15 Oct that I probably owed estimated federal taxes, so finally found how to pay up.

[LetMyPeopleVote]

5. TFG's New Social Media Site Plans to Raise Money With Shell Company Scheme

SPACs are interesting animals where the investors form an acquisition company to buy an existing company or operations and in effect take such operations public without doing an IPO. According to a friend at a big frim, SPACs are sort of loss leaders for SEC corporate types because you are not filing financial statements and the other disclosures about the company/operating going public. Normally a SPAC acquires an operating company with revenues and assets. This SPAC is acquiring a start up operation that does not have a working website and no revenues or operations at a value that "something that surely wasn’t pulled out of the former president’s ass." TFG took the public company that owned his casinos into bankruptcy while taking out large bonuses for himself. This deal smells

Link to tweet

Former President Donald Trump, a white supremacist who barely knows how to use a computer, announced late Wednesday that he plans to launch a new social media platform next year called Truth Social, with beta testing opening up to select users in November. And while the site was almost immediately infiltrated by pranksters mere hours after the announcement—long before people were supposed to be allowed to even create accounts—that’s not the most interesting part of the story.

No, the most interesting thing about Trump’s planned social media platform is how it’s going to be used to make money. Because wherever Donald Trump goes, extremely shady business practices always follow. And it’s going to be very interesting watching MAGA investors almost certainly get fleeced by Trump’s new business endeavor, which is looking to go public through a special purpose acquisition company, or SPAC.

The business that’s launching Truth Social is called the Trump Media and Technology Group (TMTG), which has a business address listed as Mar-a-Lago but isn’t registered yet with the state of Florida, as far as Gizmodo can tell. TMTG is valued at $1.7 billion according to a very real figure tweeted by spokesperson Liz Harrington—something that surely wasn’t pulled out of the former president’s ass.

TMTG will be merging with a shell company called Digital World Acquisition Corp. for the sole purpose of getting listed on a stock exchange, according to the Wall Street Journal. That way, Trump Media and Technology Group gets to go public by piggybacking on a different company and Trump’s “media and technology” company gets to avoid a ton of regulatory hurdles that exist to keep companies somewhat transparent under the theory that investors are less likely to get screwed.

......Normally, we’d be extremely wary of shady SPAC deals with unproven companies, but this is a special situation. Anyone who invests in Trump or his shell company know exactly what they’re getting into. If you support former President Trump, we encourage you to dump all your money into Trump Media and Technology Group. You’ll get everything you deserve.

Link to tweet

[WarGamer]

7. Not you, LMPV... but the author of the story is fiscally illiterate.

Where to start...

First, there have been 500 SPAC IPO's just this year, they're commonplace and legal.

Two, it's not a "shell company"

Three, he basically has 100m guaranteed sign-ups on day #1, not counting people who go there to troll MAGAts lol...

Four, TMTG was registered in Delaware in February.

Five, it's been reported Trump himself is the Chairman.

Damn do these people even read the tripe they type?

[Diraven]

20. But there's nothing to sign up for

There's no actual product or service

[LetMyPeopleVote]

26. The SEC issued new guidance on treatment of SPACs that have slowed down these offerings

In the material posted earlier, the SPAC offering was downsized. The fact that TFG is using a SPAC is telling in that SPAC offerings have significantly dried up

Link to tweet

The drastic slowdown came after the Securities and Exchange Commission issued accounting guidance that would classify SPAC warrants as liabilities instead of equity instruments. If it becomes law, deals in the pipeline as well as existing SPACs would have to go back and recalculate their financials in 10-Ks and 10-Qs for the value of warrants each quarter.

“SPAC transactions have essentially come to a halt,” said Anthony DeCandido, partner at RSM LLP. “This is going to cost these companies a lot of money to evaluate and value those warrants each quarter rather than just at the start of the SPAC. Many of these groups lack the sophistication internally to do this themselves.”

SPACs raise capital in an initial public offering and use the cash to merge with a private company and take it public, usually within two years. Warrants are a deal sweetener that offers early investors more compensation for their cash.

This potential accounting rule change could be a huge blow to the SPAC market as it could take away the incentives for sponsors and operating companies to opt for this alternative IPO vehicle — low level of scrutiny and the ability to move quickly. Meanwhile, restating financials could further dent investor confidence in a market that’s already highly volatile and oftentimes viewed as speculative.

I have seen reports of a good number of SPACs having to restate earnings to conform to the SEC guidance on warrants.

What is more important is that I do not understand how one can roll a start up into a SPAC. As it appears to me, TFG's operations re a pure startup without a working website or any revenues. Target companies need to have financial statements for the Form S-4 that has to be filed to do the merger. https://www.forbes.com/sites/allbusiness/2020/11/11/10-key-questions-and-answers-about-spacs/?sh=2b1f6e862f83

6. How do SPACs target companies to acquire?
Once the SPAC has successfully completed its IPO, the sponsor can begin the search for a target company to acquire. Here are some of the criteria they employ in their deal search:

Deal size. Under stock exchange rules, the business combination must be with one or more targets that together have an aggregate fair market value of at least 80% of the assets held in the SPAC’s trust account (excluding certain items). To mitigate the dilutive impact of the 20% founder shares and make a De-SPAC transaction more attractive to a target, SPACs often prefer business combination targets that are four to eight times the SPAC size.

Industry. Most SPACs specify an industry or geographic focus for their target business combinations (e.g., tech sector, media industry, fintech, enterprise software).

Upside Potential. SPACs, like any other M&A buyer, seek to combine with targets that the sponsors believe have meaningful upside. This year, SPACs have increasingly focused on emerging growth companies that are relatively earlier stage than traditional IPO companies.

Financial Statements. The SEC proxy rules require that a proxy statement include two or three years of financial statements of the target, plus interim financial statements. The financial statements and the target’s auditor have to meet certain requirements, and thus the necessary audit or re-audit of the target’s financial statements can be a gating item for the business combination.

Public company readiness. It is important that the target company and its financial controls are ready to handle the rigor of being a public company with periodic reporting requirements.

Market Opportunity. SPACs will look for targets whose business has a large market opportunity.
Quality Management Team. The quality of a target’s management team will be an important factor for the sponsor.
Due Diligence. The SPAC will do extensive due diligence on the target company, similar to due diligence in M&A or IPO transactions.

TFG's operations do not appear to meet any of these criterion.

[WarGamer]

27. Let me explain, my friend...

Today was just the announcement that DWAC would be merging with TMTG...

There is no merger yet.

It's just the announcement.

Later they will merge and the stock ticker will change from DWAC to TMTG or whatever they're going to call it.

Oh and lots of companies are pre-revenue and publicly listed.

Read this:

https://www.sec.gov/news/public-statement/munter-spac-20200331

There is a lot of time before they need to comply with all the requirements. Sometimes it's MONTHS after an announcement for the actual merger.

Oh and also... the people doing Trump's SPAC have prior experience with SPACS so I assume this will be a successful merger meaning the merger will be executed and completed.

I've recently followed this process as I'm an investor in Ginkgo Bioworks that started out as a SPAC, Soaring Eagle Acquisitions.

They have plenty of time... expect to see announcements for a CEO soon (They will try to steal someone notable but few want to be associated with Trump so I'm curious to see who they get) We already know that Trump himself is Chairman.

I'm going to go out on a limb and predict they get Peter Thiel on the Board as he's a veteran in that space and well respected in the business.

[LetMyPeopleVote]

28. I am a corporate attorney with an accounting background

The link you posted does not support your claims. That article merely describes what is required to be a public company after a SPAC merger including audited financial statements, a qualified auditor, internal controls and other requirements. I have not seen a pre-revenue company with no operations or revenue go public in a very long time.

Very few, if any, companies, with no operations or revenues go public or can be a target company or merger partner for a SPAC transaction. You need audited financial statements and the correct corporate governance. TFG has what appears to be a start up with a website does not work and no revenue. Heck the website does not evidently work and was hacked.

Neither my son (who is a corporate partner at big law firm) nor I have seen a SPAC merger partner that is a pure start up with no revenues or operations. If you have an example, please provide it

This appears to be a scam. I look forward to reviewing the merger proxy and merger agreement if there is one. This deal does not pass the smell test.

[WarGamer]

29. I'm 100% sure that you and your son are A++ Corporate Lawyers...

But this is clearly outside of your field of specialty...

https://markets.businessinsider.com/news/stocks/spac-public-listings-zero-revenue-valued-billion-exceeds-dot-com-2021-2

The number of public listings by companies without revenues valued above $1 billion has exceeded what was seen in the dot-com era, according to data from the Wall Street Journal.

In 2021, 16 companies either have or are expected to go public with a valuation of over $1 billion despite having zero revenues. That's more than double the number in 1999, three more than in 2001, and two more than in the year 2000, during the height of the dot-com bubble.

The rise in public companies with zero revenues of late is an illustration of a boom in special purpose acquisition companies, or SPACs.




Despite what your "Twitter Sources" say, here's reality:

SPAC are not a scam.

SPAC are legal and common.

No-Revenue and start-ups are frequently the target of a SPAC

DWAC and TMTG will merge later this year or early next year. (yes their lawyers will fill out the docs)

Yes it's a multi-Billion dolllar valuation.

Judging by today's stock market performance, Trump will make Billions.




Now my personal commentary:

Trump is a dooshbag and he's dangerous for the nation and the world.

Having said that, he has a ready-made audience of 100 Million people who will log on to his site in the first week.

Will he be able to pull off the rest of the stuff from the promo video on his website? IDK... doubtful.

IF Trump can keep his literal "mess" out of the way of industry pros, (Big IF) this company could be quite profitable.

[LetMyPeopleVote]

33. LOL. It is you who does not understand the concepts being discussed

I have done my share of IPOs, public offerings, public mergers and other transactions. My son's firm did 15 SPACs in the last quarter of last year and the first quarter of this year. These offerings have dried up in large part due to the SEC's accounting guidance on treatment of warrants. Heck the offering for this entity was downsize due to lack of demand.

This offering is based on a valuation of $1.8 billion dollars which is based on nothing, This is a start up without revenues or operations. The only asset that this entity appears to have is a broken website that was hacked. This crazy valuation has no basis in reality and I doubt that the SEC will let TFG use this valuation in the merger documents.

Shell companies rarely go public now days in large public offerings The closest to a shell that I could find was Virgin Galactic which had revenues as set forth in proxy statement. See https://www.sec.gov/Archives/edgar/data/0001706946/000119312519265333/d785777ddefm14a.htm#toc785777_46 Go to the financial statements and check

SPACs are legal but the SEC is cracking down on them. Here TFG is not the type of person you want to be running a public company https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/trump-organization-truth-social-branding/2021/10/21/23d9bfc4-328b-11ec-9241-aad8e48f01ff_story.html

Trump has previously run one publicly traded company, which included many of his Atlantic City casinos and was called Trump Entertainment Resorts. The company operated for roughly two decades, starting in 1995. For Trump’s investors, it was a disaster: The company lost more than $1 billion, its stock price nosedived, and it filed for bankruptcy three times, in 2004, 2009 and 2014. The company was eventually taken over by investor Carl Icahn.

But Trump himself did well: The struggling company paid him more than $44 million in salary, bonuses and other compensation. Tim O’Brien, another Trump biographer, said this demonstrated Trump’s willingness to try new ventures while reducing his risk — but also his struggles to succeed while running a complex operation.

“They’re asking anyone who might invest in this to simply trust that, because Donald Trump’s involved with it, it might make money,” O’Brien said.

Trump has ventured into new industries in the past, including airlines, education and casinos, and struggled. If Trump’s role in the new venture is bigger than simply lending his name, O’Brien said, he may find the tech sector equally complex: “When push comes to shove, he’s going to have to prove that he can actually manage a media company.”

This new venture comes at a time when Trump’s old business — the Trump Organization — is facing problems on multiple fronts.

I am looking forward to the litigation that is going to come out of this scam. Again, this business plan and valuation does not make sense

[WarGamer]

34. Bookmarking to gently remind you...

When the merger is completed and the ticker symbol is changed... and the atrocious app goes online.

I truly don't care but I think you're peddling misinformation insinuating that this whole thing won't happen. It will. It's out of Trump's control, now. Between the SPAC runners and the team representing TMTG will finish the job.







The rest of this is water cooler talk at the Attorneys Office.

PS: I do have a question... you truly seem like an extremely intelligent person and knowledgeable. Why do you post the tweets and online messages of people who are FAR out of their element?

I mean, Axios, random nobodies and Gizmodo? No IBD, WSJ or even Zack's? Not even Seeking Alpha?

And no I won't respond to further posts, it's not a fruitful discussion until the merger is complete.

[LetMyPeopleVote]

35. LOL

The fact that you do not understand the concepts amuse me

[LetMyPeopleVote]

42. Trump's New Media Outlet Will Go the Way of His Steaks and Mattresses

I am amused that people are not buying TFG's valuation or crap

Link to tweet

Trump’s new media start-up will soon teach him the public views him more as a Glenn Beck than it does an Oprah Winfrey. Beck, who proved he could hold millions of viewers captive with just palaver and a chalkboard on both CNN and Fox News a decade ago, started his own media company in 2011. He hasn’t exactly failed. He still broadcasts. But his ambitions outran his appeal, requiring steady layoffs and entrenchment. America still liked Beck some, but not enough to build a whole network around. Even for people who liked him, Beck was like Tabasco. Stimulating, perhaps in small doses, but gag-producing by the swig. Sort of like Trump. Winfrey, on the other hand, never played to a single political niche. She appealed to the widest segments of the population with her kindness and her chameleon-esque quality of reflecting back at her audience their best qualities. When it came time for her to establish her eponymous network, she had no trouble sustaining it because she’s a safe and reassuring performer and not the scare-merchant Beck plays on TV. People can and have built whole worlds around Winfrey, and she’s a billionaire now thanks to those talents.....

What’s more, are we really expected to believe a media and tech start-up with the pocket-change of $293 million in the kitty and overseen by a 75-year-old man can outduel Fox, CNN, Disney and Microsoft? According to this Reuters report, the financier who steered the merger that created TMTG has an uninspiring track record when it comes to making big deals. (For more on TMTG’s formation, see @BillSPACman’s exhilarating thread.) When Trump dies, the Trump cachet will go with him to his cemetery. Does anybody really want to make a long-term investment in a company so identified with one person, who isn’t getting any younger?....

For the better part of his career, Trump has been frequently characterized in the press as a grifter, somebody who preys on people for a living. That’s a tad unfair. Trump’s reputation for milking consumers with slapdash goods and bamboozling investors has been so well established for so long that anybody who buys from or invests with him must first ignore the ample evidence arguing against dealing with him. It’s too early in TMTG’s story to call the company a grift, even if, as the Washington Post puts it, TMTG appears to be little more than “a vaguely defined company headquartered at Mar-a-Lago, Trump’s club in Palm Beach.” Based on TMTG’s public statement, there’s no clue the company has a product ready to sell, unique technology or even name recognition to trade on. (You can, however, download the Truth Social app, but the beta site doesn’t go live until November.) That Trump can only start something so small to take on businesses that are so large indicates that his reputation for business failure has finally caught up to him. Billionaires and other truly moneyed folk must not have returned Trump’s calls. It’s an old story: Eventually, every grifter runs out of people to grift.

[LetMyPeopleVote]

43. Key Investor Bails After Learning He's In New Trump Company: 'Not A Close Call'

This deal is not going to make in the real world

Link to tweet

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.....

One unnamed investor who held 10% of the company told the Financial Times he sold everything as soon as he could.

“The idea that I would help [Trump] build out a fake news business called Truth makes me want to throw up,” he said.

[Elessar Zappa]

44. Just admit you're wrong.

Everyone else can see it.

[WarGamer]

45. My only claim is that the SPAC merger will be successfully completed. nt

Last edited Sat Oct 23, 2021, 06:00 PM - Edit history (1)

[COL Mustard]

6. Every Trade Has A Winner And A Loser

Be the winner as often as you can! Well done.....

[WarGamer]

8. thanks!

It's my first ever 300% killing day trading SHARES... I hit big wins trading options all the time... but 300% on SHARES in 3-4 hrs... unheard of!!

[Johnny2X2X]

9. Has to be meth

Crazy.

[FakeNoose]

11. I wonder if Chump bought any of his own stock?

I'm glad you made a killing, but I really don't want to see Chump get rich off this.

[WarGamer]

12. Trump probably made more $$ today than he has in the past 10 years combined.

I'm 100% sure he's got a ton of that stock in his pocket... hell, maybe 10% or more of it

He wouldn't have to buy it.

Stock is literally "manufactured" as part of the SPAC creation and merger. I'm sure Trump is penciled in for a huge ownership share

[Best_man23]

37. Certainties are death, taxes,

And tRump owning a big chunk of this SPAC.

[musette_sf]

13. Best Pump & Dump ever!

[WarGamer]

14. +1000 nt

[ecstatic]

15. Wow. Can you send us a heads up next time?

I want to get in on the action!

[WarGamer]

30. I'm always nervous to push that kinda thing...

With all pump-n-dumps, you gotta be careful and be glued to a monitor through extended hours. Set your stop-limits and don't get greedy.

Last thing I want to do is bring attention to it and someone buys and comes back in an hour down 35%...

[Diraven]

16. Fitting

I suspect the whole thing is just an insider stock manipulation scam anyway

[WarGamer]

31. to be honest... the entire market is manipulated.

When a hedge fund is holding a short position you don't think they initiate sales to try and promote a downturn? Especially on a low volume ticker?

Just the other day, a short attack against Ginkgo Bioworks was rebuffed when Cathie Wood of ARK INVEST bought several million shares compensating for the short attack and keeping the price more stable.

The market IS rigged... the key is to play it like you know it's rigged and predicting what the "Riggers" will do next.

[calimary]

17. Oh, would that they'd learn where their money went...

EXCELLENT, WarGamer!

[SergeStorms]

18. Maybe slide a little of that cash....

to DU and become a star member?

Membership does have it's privileges, you know? I'm sure EarlG would be most appreciative.

[BlackSkimmer]

25. Good suggestion. nt

[WarGamer]

32. will do!

[DFW]

19. Well done!

Don't donate all your gains to the DNC, though. It's taxable income. Put aside enough for the IRS, THEN send the rest on the DNC.

[former9thward]

21. The stock finished the day near its highs.

So it remains to be seen if anyone is holding the bag.

[Blue Owl]

22. Bwah! Well done...

[hurple]

23. Augh!

I have been wanting to get into that game, but am a newbie. Wish I had thought of this one, I would have just started with half your initial investment, though.

[getagrip_already]

24. hopefully you can make $100k shorting it soon......

Something like this will go up until the rubes are in, then, the dump will commence.

[Best_man23]

36. Congrats WarGamer

I was looking at that thing for the retirement accounts until I found out tRump was behind it, and that pretty much killed any interest.

Just remember this investment rule: accounting irregularities (if tRump's involved, guarantee this SPAC has them) = SELL.

I do like the idea one DUer had earlier of making more $$$ through Put options.

[Bengus81]

38. Most of those amateur Magots trading that stock will get buried. It will hit 100.00 today.

Trading around $81.00 in Pre-Market right now. At some point a massive sell off will happen,Fridays are ripe for dumping after profiting and it might get shorted into the ground. Get some popcorn!!

[BannonsLiver]

39. That probably goes for everyone

You hear the fantastical tales in the OP. What you don’t hear about? All the times they get their teeth kicked in. Gamblers are the same way. They only talk about the big scores.

[Celerity]

41. topped out earlier at $175, then came the inevitable sell off, currently at $90

[former9thward]

46. There was no dumping.

The stock finished at $94. It seems the OP is the one who lost out. I am happy to see that he made some money but his assertion that whoever bought his shares was "holding the bag" did not pan out.

[Bengus81]

47. Well...IMO going from 172.00 back down to 94 in a days trading is people dumping

But call it a sell off if that sounds better. Down to 85.90 right now. No bag holding on his 12.00 shares but those who bought at 130.00/170.00 will never see that price again. Hell those that bought at 100.00 are probably in the same boat.

[former9thward]

49. I don't buy IPOs because their price action can be too volatile for me.

But it is too early in my view to make predictions about that stock.

[WhiskeyGrinder]

48. This thread is fucking hilarious.