Trump media venture unveils forecasts, regulatory inquiries

NEW YORK (AP) — Donald Trump’s new social media company forecasts it may have 81 million users by 2026, or nearly 7 million more people than voted for him in the last U.S. presidential election.

The projection was filed on Monday with securities regulators by the company trying to bring Trump Media & Technology Group to the stock market. The company, Digital World Acquisition Corp., said over the weekend that it has lined up $1 billion in promised investments for the former president’s new venture from a group of unnamed institutional investors, and it filed a copy of the presentation used to pitch investors and analysts.

The filing also said that the deal has attracted some scrutiny from regulators. Digital World Acquisition, which is often referred to by its trading symbol of “DWAC,” said it is cooperating with “the preliminary, fact-finding inquiries” by the Financial Industry Regulation Authority and the Securities and Exchange Commission.

The Financial Industry Regulation Authority, or FINRA, asked in late October and early November for a review of trading in its stock before the Oct. 20 merger deal was announced. That announcement sent shares of DWAC surging from $9.96 to $94.20 in just two days as Trump supporters and investors looking to make a quick buck piled in. The shares have since pulled back to roughly $43.

The Securities and Exchange Commission made a request in early November for documents related to meetings of DWAC’s board, trading policies and other things. According to DWAC, the SEC’s request said the commission’s “investigation does not mean that the SEC has concluded that anyone violated the law or that the SEC has a negative opinion of DWAC or any person, event, or security.”