Stock in a company planning to buy Donald Trump's new social media business plunged Monday on a news report that two key staff members left and a regulatory filing that it will miss a key deadline to file its annual financial statements.
Digital World Acquisition Corp. dropped more than 10% in midday trading on a Reuters report that two key executives — one the company's chief technology officer — had left the company, citing two anonymous sources.
That report followed a filing by the company last week stating that its accountants needed more time to review financial figures before filing its annual report.
Many public companies request filing extensions, but the news added to investor jitters fueled by the botched February launch of Trump's Truth Social app, which was marred by outages and long wait lists to gain access.
The stock fell to $56.50, down more than a third over the past month.
The Truth Social app topped Apple’s App Store free rankings on the day it was made available to a limited set of subscribers in February. Since then, it has tumbled down the charts and is no longer in the top 200.
Digital World is planning to buy Trump's new social media company, Trump Media and Technology Group. Digital World needs regulators to sign off on its deal to merge with Trump Media to access the more than $1 billion that the former U.S. president had helped line up to fund the business. Regulators are investigating Digital World following reports it may have broken security rules last year.