Donald Trump's Truth Social loses vote to go public and fails to raise funding to keep operating

Digital World Acquisition Corp., a so-called "blank check" company, failed on Thursday to garner enough shareholder votes to take Donald Trump's Truth Social public.

"Former President Trump's social media company has another potentially big problem on its hands: It's struggling to complete a stock market listing that would allow it to raise more than $1 billion it needs to keep running," NPR reported. "Trump Media and Technology Group, which includes the Truth Social app it launched earlier this year, had been planning to list on the Nasdaq stock exchange through a complicated process known as a SPAC merger."

The Securities and Exchange Commission has yet to approve the merger.

"Instead of pursuing a traditional IPO, the Trump Media and Technology Group decided to merge with a blank check company that is already listed on the Nasdaq," NPR reported. "These kinds of deals have became popular in recent years, when interest rates were near zero. In effect, they give private companies a shortcut to going public — requiring less transparency than traditional IPOs."

Axios reported, "Truth Social says it currently has enough cash to maintain options through April 2023, and that it soon plans to begin generating revenue via advertising."

Trump had 89 million followers on Twitter when his account was permanently suspended. Trump has 4 million followers on Truth Social.