WILMINGTON, Delaware, Sept 17 (Reuters) -

Trump Media & Technology Group Corp ( DJT ) breached an

agreement with Patrick Orlando's ARC Global and was ordered to

deliver to the group a larger portion of stock in the company, a

Delaware judge said in an opinion published on Tuesday.

Vice Chancellor Lori Will found after a one-day trial

that the blank check company that merged with Trump Media ( DJT ) and

took it public had breached its contract with the ARC investment

vehicle. As a result, ARC was being shortchanged stock in Trump

Media ( DJT ) , according to Will.

However, Will ruled against ARC on its claims that the

directors of the blank check company, Digital World Acquisition

Corp, breached their fiduciary duty to ARC.

TMTG and Orlando did not immediately respond to requests

for comment.

Shares of TMTG were down 4.2% in early Tuesday trading

at $16.54.

Orlando had been the chief executive of DWAC when it

struck a deal to merge with TMTG, although

he was ousted

before the deal closed this year and TMTG became a public

company.

ARC sued earlier this year alleging it was being

shortchanged stock in a public TMTG.

ARC owned Class B stock in DWAC that was to convert to

Class A stock when the TMTG deal closed.

ARC wanted a conversion ratio of 1.8178 for each Class B

share while TMTG argued the ratio should be 1.3481. Will settled

on 1.4911.

"What should have been a straightforward exercise in

contract interpretation and math was obscured by the parties'

injection of other issues," Will said in her opinion.

A lock-up period allowing ARC and Trump to sell their

stock is set to expire on Thursday, according to Will's opinion.

Trump

said last week

he did not want to sell his stock, sending shares of TMTG

higher on Friday.

Orlando

was sued

by the Securities and Exchange Commission in July for

securities fraud because he failed to disclose that DWAC had a

plan to merge with TMTG when DWAC went public.

TMTG has been embroiled in several lawsuits over stakes in

the company, including a legal battle with two cofounders of

Truth Social, Andy Litinsky and Wesley Moss.

Trump, the former president and Republican candidate for

the White House, owns about 57% of Trump Media ( DJT ) stock.

The stock has fallen over the past two months from more

than $40 a share, in part because Trump's odds of winning the

White House have slipped since Kamala Harris replaced President

Joe Biden as the Democratic candidate.

Trump Media's ( DJT ) revenue is equivalent to two Starbucks

coffee shops, and strategists say its stock market value is

detached from its day-to-day business. It lost $869,900 in its

most recent reported quarter ended June 30.