The “SPAC King’s” B.S.

Chamath Palihapitiya
Photo by Ilya S. Savenok/Getty
William D. Cohan
February 23, 2022

The attempted launch of Truth Social, the flagship social media app produced by Trump Media & Technology Group, appears to have been a glitch-ridden embarrassment, as documented by my partner Tina Nguyen. Of course, that didn’t stop Digital World Acquisition Corp., the special purpose acquisition company, or SPAC, that is taking TMTG public, from popping 17 percent on the news. DWAC, which is being investigated by the S.E.C. and FINRA for potential insider trading preceding the merger announcement, was already trading at about nine times its I.P.O. price in a fit of late-cycle meme-stock hysteria reminiscent of AMC, GameStop and Virgin Galactic. We know how those stories ended.