The FBI raid of President Donald Trump's Mar-a-Lago estate may have had some unintended consequences that could be a financial silver lining for the former president.
The Numbers: Prior to the Aug. 8 raid, Trump's social media platform Truth Social was ranked outside of the top 50 most downloaded social networking apps in the Apple, Inc AAPL App Store, according to Similarweb.
The day of the raid, Truth Social jumped from being the 76th most downloaded social networking app to being the 15th most downloaded. The app peaked at 10th most downloaded on Aug. 12 and has yet to drop out of the top 20 since the raid.
Related Link: Donald Trump And 5 Other Business Bosses Who Invoked Their Fifth Amendment Rights
Trump Media and Technology Group, which owns Truth Social, plans to merge with the SPAC Digital World Acquisition Corp DWAC, but that merger has recently run into complications.
In late June, Trump Media received a subpoena from the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission as part of a civil probe into the company's SPAC merger. Just days later, the company was also subpoenaed by a federal grand jury in connection with a criminal probe.
Merger Delays: On Tuesday, Digital World Acquisition filed to ask for an extension to file its quarterly earnings report. Earlier this month, the company asked shareholders to extend the deadline for its merger with Trump Media by a year, setting a new deadline for Sept. 8, 2023. A shareholder meeting to vote on the extension is tentatively scheduled for Sept. 6.
Related Link: Donald Trump's Mar-a-Lago Estate Searched by FBI — What Stocks May Be Affected
The political drama surrounding the Mar-a-Lago raid certainly doesn't seem to be impacting Digital World Acquisition investors. The stock is up 1.1% overall since the beginning of August.
Benzinga's Take: The old adage in marketing is there's no such thing as bad publicity, and the spike in Trust Social downloads following the FBI raid of Mar-a-Lago seems to support that idea. Criminal and regulatory probes are always a red flag for investors, so Digital World buyers should tread cautiously given all the uncertainty surrounding the stock at the moment.
Photo via Shutterstock.
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