Gage Skidmore from Peoria, AZ, United States of America, CC BY-SA 2.0, via Wikimedia Commons ; Truth Social Logo, Cropped by Resist the Mainstream

Trump Media & Technology Group, the parent company behind social networking site Truth Social, will begin trading on the Nasdaq stock market on Tuesday.

On Friday, shareholder of Digital World Acquisition Corp., a publicly traded shell company, voted to approve a deal to merge with Trump's media business.

Thus far, shares of Digital World have been volatile, with the stock slumping 13.7% after the merger was approved, but soaring 22% on Monday to $45.40. 

Trump will own most of the combined company, 79 million shares of it, and the total value of that stake is likely to vary, but is likely to be upwards of $3 billion. The former President won’t be able to cash out his stake of the company immediately, unless the company’s board changes a “lock-up” provision that prevents company insiders from selling newly issued shares for six months.

On Monday, Trump was in New York attending a hearing on his criminal hush money case, and was given a win when a New York appeals court reduced his $454 million civil fraud judgment to $175 million if he puts up that amount within 10 days. 

Truth Social was released in February 2022, a little over a year after Trump was banned from major social media platforms, including Facebook and X, after the Jan. 6 Capitol incident. While he has since been reinstated on both platforms, Trump has largely stuck with Truth Social, and has frequently professed his love for the platform. 

Trump Media hasn’t disclosed Truth Social’s user numbers, but with the company being publicly traded now, information such as user counts will be disclosed in the near future. 

While Trump stands to gain quite a bit, the platform itself, which is described as a platform championing free speech and serving as a “safe harbor” from Big Tech censorship, can expect to gain traction as well, as it could earn $300 million from the merger to further its expansion. 

The common stock of Trump Media & Technology Group will trade under the ticker symbol “DJT.”