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The price of shares in Digital World Acquisition Corp. closed trading Friday nearly 14% lower than their opening price after the shell company’s shareholders approved a merger with the social media company owned by former President Donald Trump.
DWAC had opened the trading day at $44.20 per share, but quickly tumbled on the heels of the vote.
By the market close, DWAC shares were selling for $36.94 per share, a drop of $5.87, or 13.71%
The newly merged company, Trump Media, could begin trading under the new ticker DJT next week.
Trump holds a majority of shares in the new company, which would have been worth $3 billion or more given Friday’s opening price for DWAC.
But the value of his forthcoming shares will be lower if the newly designated stock does not return to its opening price from Friday morning.
A total of 11% of the tradable shares of DWAC are being sold short, FactSet data shows.
This means investors holding these positions are betting the price will fall before they have to buy the shares back and return them to the entities who loaned the shares to them.