Jeff Yass, the billionaire Wall Avenue financier and Republican megadonor who’s a significant investor within the mum or dad firm of TikTok, was additionally the largest institutional shareholder of the shell firm that not too long ago merged with former President Donald J. Trump’s social media firm.
A December regulatory submitting confirmed that Mr. Yass’s buying and selling agency, Susquehanna Worldwide Group, owned about 2 p.c of Digital World Acquisition Corp., which merged with Trump Media & Expertise Group on Friday. That stake, of about 605,000 shares, was value about $22 million primarily based on Digital World’s final closing share value.
It’s unclear if Susquehanna nonetheless owns these shares, as a result of large traders disclose their holdings to regulators solely periodically. But when it did retain its stake, Mr. Yass’s agency would grow to be considered one of Trump Media’s bigger institutional shareholders when it begins buying and selling this week following the merger.
Shares of Digital World have surged about 140 p.c this 12 months because the merger with the mum or dad firm of Fact Social, Mr. Trump’s social media platform, drew nearer and Mr. Trump grew to become the presumptive Republican nominee for president.
“Susquehanna is a market maker and has zero financial curiosity in Trump Media,” stated the corporate in a press release. “The agency’s lengthy place is offset by brief positions of the identical dimension.”
Regulatory filings present the agency used offsetting securities to attempt to decrease its good points or losses within the inventory.
The corporate assertion didn’t touch upon whether or not the agency nonetheless owned a stake in Digital World, or on the connection between Mr. Yass and Mr. Trump.
Mr. Yass has been within the information not too long ago for a number of causes. An enormous contributor to Republican candidates and political motion committees that help libertarian and conservative causes, together with the Membership for Progress, Mr. Yass’s agency can also be a giant shareholder in ByteDance, TikTok’s mum or dad firm. The U.S. funding corporations Susquehanna, BlackRock and Basic Atlantic and others personal 60 p.c of ByteDance.
This month, the Home handed a invoice to drive ByteDance to promote TikTok, the Chinese language-controlled social media firm.
The Membership for Progress has sought to foyer Republicans in Congress to oppose any try and ban TikTok if it was nonetheless managed by China, and Mr. Yass has helped the conservative group fund that effort. (The Membership for Progress had opposed Mr. Trump’s re-election marketing campaign, however seems to have reconciled with him.)
Mr. Trump had supported banning TikTok in america, however he not too long ago reversed his stance. A couple of weeks in the past, he acknowledged having a temporary assembly with Mr. Yass — recognized in a 2022 Wall Avenue Journal column as a “by no means Trumper” — however stated the 2 males by no means mentioned TikTok.
An individual near Mr. Trump’s marketing campaign stated that Mr. Yass was anticipated to provide a big donation to a gaggle supporting the previous president’s political marketing campaign. Mr. Yass stated via a spokesman that he had by no means given to Mr. Trump and had no plans to take action.
Susquehanna, which facilitates trades in 1000’s of shares utilizing mathematical fashions, isn’t the one agency that stands to generate income on Digital World. In February, Digital World disclosed that it raised $50 million from a gaggle of institutional traders to cowl bills associated to the merger. The traders lent the corporate cash that may be transformed into shares. The traders within the deal have but to be disclosed.
General, hedge funds and buying and selling corporations owned round 5 p.c of Digital World’s 30 million shares excellent on the finish of final 12 months. The overwhelming majority of Digital World’s roughly 400,000 shareholders are particular person traders, a lot of them supporters of Mr. Trump.
The surge within the value of Digital World shares this 12 months has boosted the worth of Mr. Trump’s 79-million-share stake in Trump Media by billions of {dollars}. Mr. Trump can also be being issued a category of shares that can give him at the least 55 p.c voting energy over all shareholder measures.
The merger was finalized simply earlier than Mr. Trump’s Monday deadline to safe a bond to cowl a $454 million penalty imposed by a choose in a civil fraud case.
The previous president’s Trump Media shares might present him with a monetary lifeline to boost the money wanted to get a bond. However to try this, he wants Trump Media’s seven-member board to take away a restriction that forestalls him from promoting shares or utilizing shares as collateral for a bond for the subsequent six months.
The board consists of Mr. Trump’s eldest son, Donald Jr., and three former members of his administration: Kash Patel, who was the chief of workers to Mr. Trump’s performing secretary of protection; the previous U.S. commerce consultant Robert Lighthizer; and Linda McMahon, a former administrator of the Small Enterprise Administration.
Ms. McMahon is a chair of a giant fund-raiser for Mr. Trump scheduled for April 6 in Palm Seaside, Fla., in response to a replica of the invitation. The occasion is co-hosted by John Paulson, the billionaire investor, and consists of numerous Wall Avenue financiers as chairs. Mr. Yass is just not talked about as considered one of them.
Maggie Haberman contributed reporting.
