February 9, 2022: -The stock price of the blank-check company that has partnered with ex-President Donald Trump’s social media firm plunged on Monday in late-day trading as news of the delay in the app’s launch spread on Twitter.

Digital World Acquisition Corp. opened trading on Monday at $87.02 per share and spiked to as high as $97.15 earlier. But the stock price started plunging around 3:30 p.m. ET and decreased to as low as $80.45 per share.

DWAC closed the trading day at $83.88 per share.

Though the stock drop was triggered as word of the delayed launch of Truth Social spread on Monday, the postponement of Trump’s version of Twitter had been announced last month.

In January, Truth Social indicated on the Apple App Store that it would launch on February 21.

But Devin Nunes, the latest appointed Trump Media and Technology Group CEO, during an appearance on January 23 on Fox Business, said that the app would be released by March 31.

Nunes, a California Republican who served in the House of Representatives until January, cited the need to finish ongoing beta testing as the reason for the delay.

DWAC filed a transcript of Nunes’ interview with the Securities and Exchange Commission, acknowledging the significance of the delay to its business.

DWAC is a SPAC, or so-called particular purpose acquisition company. SPACs raise money from equity markets and then identify other firms to merge with, creating a publicly traded entity of the merged firms.

Trump announced in October that his recent social media network would merge with DWAC in a deal that valued Trump Media and Technology Group at up to $1.7 billion.

Trump says that the Truth Social would be a competitor to social media giants such as Twitter and Facebook, both of which banned him last year for having posted statements that incited the deadly January 6 Capitol riot, when the former president’s supporters stormed the building and disrupted lawmakers’ confirmation of Joe Biden’s electoral college victory.

“We live in a world where the Taliban has a huge presence on Twitter, yet your favorite American president has been silenced,” Trump said in announcing the merger.