What happened
Shares of Digital World Acquisition (DWAC), the special purpose acquisition company taking former President Donald Trump's new social media platform, Truth Social, public, are falling today after two key executives have reportedly resigned. Shares of DWAC traded roughly 10.5% down as of 10:42 a.m. ET.
So what
Reuters reports that Josh Adams, Truth Social's head of technology; and Billy Boozer, head of product development, have both resigned less than one year after joining the company.
Image source: Getty Images.
The news is the latest in what has been a string of issues for Truth Social, which has had technical bugs since the app launched. Truth Social also currently has no app suitable for Android and many users are still on a waitlist to get on the platform. Business intelligence company Sensor Tower reported recently that downloads for the app are down roughly 93% from earlier levels.
Additionally, Twitter, one of the large social media giants that Truth Social is trying to disrupt and that has banned Trump from its platform, got a big boost today when media outlets reported that Tesla founder Elon Musk has taken a more than 9% stake in the company.
That news is somewhat surprising, considering Musk just a few weeks ago publicly tweeted: "Given that Twitter serves as the de facto public town square, failing to adhere to free speech principles fundamentally undermines democracy." Musk has more than 80 million followers on Twitter and the fact that he just took a large stake in the company may quell any concern that he might leave the platform.
Now what
While there is still potential for Truth Social to disrupt mainstream social media, nothing has really gone smoothly since the platform launched. Considering that shares of Digital World Acquisition Corp have absolutely surged since it announced it would acquire Truth Social, this is certainly a stock I would avoid.
