Merlin Scores $3.2 Million Default Judgment Against Triller

Photo Credit: Solen Feyissa

A federal court has officially entered a $3.2 million default judgment against Triller in a missing-compensation lawsuit filed by Merlin. Meanwhile, the social media company has resumed trading on NASDAQ, changed its name, and deemed 2026 “the monetization year.”

We exclusively covered that default judgment push throughout 2025, and this past October saw Merlin double down on its demand for allegedly due licensing compensation plus interest.

As some know, the aggressive litigation arrived amid multiple operational obstacles for Triller, which was for a time booted from NASDAQ due to a sagging share price and missing earnings reports. Additionally, Triller shut down its namesake video-sharing app earlier in 2026.

Back to the present, Triller has now been ordered to pay the initially noted $3.2 million to Merlin; that figure consists of $2.55 million in owed compensation and about $668,000 in interest, the newly signed order shows. In approving the penalty, the court cited “the reasons stated” in its aforementioned Q4 2025 opinion and order.

At the time of writing, Triller didn’t seem to have addressed the development or moved to appeal. Nevertheless, following many twists and turns, the company has been engaging with investors and providing public updates as of late.

Keeping the focus on bigger-picture takeaways here, with shares (NASDAQ: ILLR) currently live on NASDAQ, stakeholders at an annual meeting last month voted in favor of a reverse stock split and a name change “from Triller Group Inc. to Eight Holdings Inc.,” per a press release.

“Shareholders approved changing our name to Eight Holdings Inc.,” Triller Group/Eight Holdings CEO Wing Fai Ng elaborated on X. “Eight better reflects the diversified, monetization-focused platform we’re building across social, sports, and financial services. Triller remains an important brand where it drives value. We’re excited about this next chapter.”

Not stopping there, Triller went ahead and published a formal release containing its answers to a variety of investor questions. Decidedly optimistic, those answers described 2025 as “the reset” and 2026 as “the monetization year”; chalked up the share-price woes to the since-resolved missing filings; and touched on what the Triller successor Eight will look like.

“The scarce [Triller app] assets were preserved: the historical user base, cultural relevance, creator history, brand equity where it still converts, and the public-company platform. The plan is to rebuild around potential monetization rather than nostalgia,” the company explained.

“The strategy is not to recreate old Triller. The strategy is to build Eight around monetization: social and creator monetization, sports and live-event monetization, and financial-services infrastructure,” Triller continued.

Time will tell whether this strategy brings about the desired result for Triller, which recently announced a more than $400 million deal “to acquire a significant position providing economic exposure to SpaceX.”

But as things stand, the company’s shares slipped by nearly 45%, to $1.28 apiece, during trading on Wednesday.

Regarding what may have contributed to the plummet, the past two days have seen multiple shareholder-rights law firms publicly announce investigations into Triller over alleged “violations of the securities laws.”