A merger with former U.S. President Donald Trump's new social media venture has delivered a potential windfall of $420 million for a former finance executive who has been trying for a decade to reinvent himself as a serial dealmaker.
Benessere Capital CEO Patrick Orlando's stake in Digital World Acquisition Corp, the Miami-based blank-check acquisition firm he is leading, was worth $423 million on Thursday after his deal to merge with Trump Media and Technology Group was announced, according to a regulatory filing and Reuters calculations.
It is nonetheless a remarkable reversal of fortune for the former Deutsche Bank AG derivatives banker who worked in Peru's biofuel industry and for a U.S. sugar trading company before trying his hand at special purpose acquisition companies (SPACs).
Trump Media said it would receive $293 million in cash that Digital World had in a trust if no shareholder of the acquisition firm chose to cash in their shares.
I wish I could make an announcement on a third rate social media outlet that I was gonna start another third rate media outlet and pocket more than a quarter of a billion dollars.
And its most likely from the MAGA mob who are gonna be left holding the empty bag 6 months from now when the company that was worth $3 million dollars yesterday is worth less than $3 million dollars in 6 months, and they own it, instead of Trump and his bent banker.
Re: trump (the former guy)
Posted: Thu Oct 21, 2021 11:49 pm
by Gregg
Holy phuckgrift...
This company has no revenue and $24,500 in cash on hand. I have almost that much in my checking account. You heard it here first, this is all press releases and coming soon announcements and I doubt it will be any better than his last attempt. If eh says his prayers, eats his vegetables and is a good little Nazi, he might be as technically impressive as Frank Speech, but I doubt he'll approach the success of Gabber.
Lani wrote: ↑Thu Oct 21, 2021 3:00 am
"Truth" in Russian is Pravda. Just saying....
I think the Russian proverb is "There is no news in Pravda, and there is no truth in Isvestia"
(Isvestia means "The News")
Is Orlando going to give Trump his 293 mill? Or just stiff him? He wouldn't dare if it was Putin, but Trump... (I thought even Putin only took 25%. Maybe that was 25% minimum.)
A $6 billion federal program created to provide fresh produce to families affected by the pandemic was mismanaged and used by the Trump administration for political gain, a new congressional report has found.
As a ProPublica investigation revealed last spring and as the new report further details, the Farmers to Families Food Box program gave contracts to companies that had no relevant experience and often lacked necessary licenses. The House Select Subcommittee on the Coronavirus Crisis, which released its report last week, found that former President Donald Trump’s administration did not adequately screen contractor applications or identify red flags in bid proposals.
One company that received a $39 million contract was CRE8AD8 LLC (pronounced “Create a Date”), a wedding and event planning firm. The owner compared the contract to his usual work of “putting tchotchkes in a bag.”
In response to the report, the firm’s CEO said in a statement, “We delivered far more boxes/pounds than many other contractors and as a for-profit company, we’re allowed to make a profit.”
Re: trump (the former guy)
Posted: Fri Oct 22, 2021 2:25 pm
by humblescribe
Gregg wrote: ↑Thu Oct 21, 2021 11:49 pm
Holy phuckgrift...
This company has no revenue and $24,500 in cash on hand. I have almost that much in my checking account. You heard it here first, this is all press releases and coming soon announcements and I doubt it will be any better than his last attempt. If eh says his prayers, eats his vegetables and is a good little Nazi, he might be as technically impressive as Frank Speech, but I doubt he'll approach the success of Gabber.
As I type this at 11:25 PDT, the price has more than doubled today up $46.14 to $91.64. Intraday high was $175.00!
Re: trump (the former guy)
Posted: Fri Oct 22, 2021 2:32 pm
by raison de arizona
Re: trump (the former guy)
Posted: Fri Oct 22, 2021 2:38 pm
by neeneko
humblescribe wrote: ↑Fri Oct 22, 2021 2:25 pm
As I type this at 11:25 PDT, the price has more than doubled today up $46.14 to $91.64. Intraday high was $175.00!
Something I am not clear about : with this type of investment, can the original backers pull out at the new high? At least one explanation I saw claimed they could only get their original contribution back rather than sell their shares on the open market for the current price.
A $6 billion federal program created to provide fresh produce to families affected by the pandemic was mismanaged and used by the Trump administration for political gain, a new congressional report has found.
As a ProPublica investigation revealed last spring and as the new report further details, the Farmers to Families Food Box program gave contracts to companies that had no relevant experience and often lacked necessary licenses. The House Select Subcommittee on the Coronavirus Crisis, which released its report last week, found that former President Donald Trump’s administration did not adequately screen contractor applications or identify red flags in bid proposals.
One company that received a $39 million contract was CRE8AD8 LLC (pronounced “Create a Date”), a wedding and event planning firm. The owner compared the contract to his usual work of “putting tchotchkes in a bag.”
In response to the report, the firm’s CEO said in a statement, “We delivered far more boxes/pounds than many other contractors and as a for-profit company, we’re allowed to make a profit.”
My vague recollection was that this was reported on at the time, at least the part about the contractors not being qualified. Which in that administration was a given.
Re: trump (the former guy)
Posted: Fri Oct 22, 2021 4:09 pm
by Kendra
Trump is out with a statement attacking Meghan McCain as a "bully" and a "lowlife" & the late John McCain as "a RINO's RINO." Trump boasts he "made it possible for her father to have the world's longest funeral."
humblescribe wrote: ↑Fri Oct 22, 2021 2:25 pm
As I type this at 11:25 PDT, the price has more than doubled today up $46.14 to $91.64. Intraday high was $175.00!
Something I am not clear about : with this type of investment, can the original backers pull out at the new high? At least one explanation I saw claimed they could only get their original contribution back rather than sell their shares on the open market for the current price.
With these high prices, SOMEONE must be selling.
These things are quite complicated; perhaps JPC can weigh in with more authority.
It might be that some of the stock that was issued is restricted in terms of being able to be sold freely on the open market for a period of time. Or maybe the original investors can redeem their shares for what they paid for them, but not sell in the market for six months to a year.
I would think that some of the movement the past two days is churning and seizing upon the TFG's hype.
FYI, DWAC closed at 94.20 for the day, or a gain of $48.70. In after-hours trading it is down $12.40 to $81.78. The volume of shares traded today was 127.9 million.
Trump is out with a statement attacking Meghan McCain as a "bully" and a "lowlife" & the late John McCain as "a RINO's RINO." Trump boasts he "made it possible for her father to have the world's longest funeral."
I got a Pharaoh on the line who wants to talk about that.
A good primer on bar disciplinary proceedings generally, and the proceedings against Eastman specifically.
Executive summary: As always, "it depends." There are two main complaints against Eastman, concerning (1) his memos to Pence and (2) his January 6 speech. (The author punts on a third possible charge: Eastman's frivolity during Texas' failsuit against Pennsylvania.) Eastman's memos were either earnestly very wrong or full of fraudulent statements, depending on how you view Eastman and his credibility. There's (almost) no discipline for earnest wrongness, but often discipline for fraud. During his January 6 speech, Eastman said things that are demonstrably false. And out-of-court demonstrably false statements are a large part of the case against Giuliani and his law license. But, as with Giuliani, there's a case for the First Amendment's protecting such falsities.
Bonus: Klayman gets a shoutout as an example of how not to lawyer.
Re: trump (the former guy)
Posted: Sat Oct 23, 2021 3:20 pm
by Atticus Finch
Taitz gets an honorable mention.
Re: trump (the former guy)
Posted: Sat Oct 23, 2021 4:04 pm
by noblepa
humblescribe wrote: ↑Fri Oct 22, 2021 5:18 pm
These things are quite complicated; perhaps JPC can weigh in with more authority.
It might be that some of the stock that was issued is restricted in terms of being able to be sold freely on the open market for a period of time. Or maybe the original investors can redeem their shares for what they paid for them, but not sell in the market for six months to a year.
I would think that some of the movement the past two days is churning and seizing upon the TFG's hype.
FYI, DWAC closed at 94.20 for the day, or a gain of $48.70. In after-hours trading it is down $12.40 to $81.78. The volume of shares traded today was 127.9 million.
Those restrictions sound like something that would be included in a legitimate deal, to prevent the principals from engaging in a "pump and dump" scheme.
However, I strongly suspect that this whole thing was conceived of as such a scheme from the get-go, so I would be surprised it there are any such restrictions. Trump and the others will probably sell their entire holding within weeks, but still stay on as CEO, paying themselves a generous salary.
Who would have guessed, that skin that looks like leather, could be so thin....
Re: trump (the former guy)
Posted: Mon Oct 25, 2021 7:41 am
by Foggy
I always said he was too insecure to be president. His tiny little feels are so delicate!
Re: trump (the former guy)
Posted: Tue Oct 26, 2021 4:26 pm
by Kendra
DCCC Chair Rep. Sean Patrick Maloney: "Donald, they're laughing at you on Capitol Hill. They use you like some cheap mistress for their purposes, but then they laugh at you behind their back. And they run away from you when they try to talk to voters in swing districts."
@MSNBC
