Donald Trump Tech and Media Company Investigated By SEC – The Hollywood Reporter

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Former President Donald Trump’s media company thinks it could attract 10 million paying subscribers to a new streaming service, and users are willing to pay a monthly fee “closer to Netflix because of the overly excited base by President Trump. ”

But first, it will need to navigate a federal investigation.

According to documents filed by Digital World Acquisition Company (SPAC Trump’s company aims to merge with) Monday, both companies are facing SEC and FINRA investigations.

FINRA’s investigation preceded Trump’s merger announcement (it’s a “trade review,” per company), but the SEC’s document request came last month. The companies said they were cooperating with the investigations.

“In early November 2021, DWAC received a voluntary information and document request from the SEC requesting, inter alia, documents related to DWAC Board of Directors meetings, trade -related policies and procedures. , the identity of the bank, telephone, and email addresses, the identities of certain investors, and certain documents and communications between DWAC and TMTG, ”according to the regulatory filing. “At the SEC’s request, the investigation does not mean that the SEC has determined that anyone violated the law or that the SEC has a negative opinion of DWAC or any person, event, or security.”

The disclosure of the investigations came after DWAC announced that it had secured an additional $ 1 billion in PIPE financing, which was meant to increase the money proceeds from the IPO. In its filing about new financing, TMTG also released a new investor presentation, with details about the company, its structure, and ambitions.

This includes details of the streaming service, which added that the person in charge of it, the producer of the game show Scott St. John, will produce news, documentaries, sports programming and “non-woke” entertainment. TMTG expects it to reach 40 million users by 2026.

But the first product will be a social network, Truth Social, that looks very similar to Twitter. TMTG says it thinks it will attract 15 million profitable users, and if it can add users beyond Trump’s base (an open question), it could be even bigger. Ultimately, the company projects that Truth Social will have 81 million users by 2026, which is somewhat odd in a Politico poll of registered voters in the US.

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