December 27, 2024

The logo of Donald Trump’s Truth Social app is displayed on a smartphone on March 25, 2024.

Anna Buckley | Getty Images

Trump Media The company revealed in a statement that chief operating officer Andrew Northwall resigned at the end of September. Supervision filing Thursday.

In the same filing, former President Trump’s social media company announced it would offer nearly 800,000 shares to early investors following a recent order from a Delaware judge.

At Thursday’s closing price, the shares were worth about $12.7 million.

The company, which trades on Nasdaq under the ticker DJT, gave no explanation for Northwall’s resignation but said it “plans to transition his responsibilities internally.”

Documents filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission do not indicate a direct link between developments in the Delaware lawsuit and the executive’s departure.

In mid-September, Delaware Chancery Court Judge Lori Will ruled that Trump Media violated its agreement with ARC Global Investments II, the alleged sponsor of the merger that took the company public.

The legal dispute centers on how to calculate the number of Class A shares owed by Trump Media Corp. following its merger with blank-check company Digital World Acquisition Corp. (DWAC).

Will ruled that the stock conversion ratio proposed by DWAC was too low and therefore ARC was entitled to more stock.

Trump Media noted in a filing with the SEC on Thursday that the judge also rejected ARC’s proposed ratio, which was much higher.

But the company said that in accordance with the court order, “a portion of the disputed converted common shares held in escrow have been released to ARC.”

Trump Media said it will issue 785,825 shares of common stock to ARC.

The investor behind ARC, Patrick Orlando, was the original CEO of DWAC. He was forced to exit DWAC in 2023, a year before Trump Media and DWAC completed their merger in late March.

In July, the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) sued Orlando, accusing the investor of lying in public securities filings about DWAC’s planned merger with Trump Media.

The Securities and Exchange Commission has asked the court to force Orlando to hand over “all ill-gotten gains” from the alleged fraud as well as civil penalties. The agency is also seeking a permanent injunction barring Orlando from serving as an officer or director of a public company.

The case is pending in the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia.

Trump is the majority owner of Trump Media, which operates the Twitter-style social media platform Truth Social.

The Republican presidential candidate owns nearly 57% of the company’s stock, with a book value of nearly $1.9 billion.

He and other company insiders, including ARC, are not allowed to sell any stock until the lock-up agreement expires on September 19.

United Atlantic Ventures, one of the company’s largest shareholders, sold nearly all of its 11 million shares days after the restrictions were lifted, according to U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) filings.

Depending on the price range of DJT shares after the lockup period expires, the stake could be worth at least $128 million.

Trump has vowed not to sell his stock.

About The Author

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *