Neutral Video Platform Rumble Going Public Via SPAC: What Investors Should Know And It's Connection To Donald Trump

A video platform created to be neutral and attract big names free from censorship announced a SPAC merger to go public.

The SPAC Deal: Rumble Inc announced a SPAC merger with CF Acquisition Corp VI CFVI Wednesday after market close.

The deal values Rumble at an enterprise value of $2.1 billion. A $100 million PIPE is included as part of the merger.

Additional shares of the company could be paid out to current Rumble shareholders if the stock reaches price metrics of $15 and $17.50.

Public CFVI shareholders are expected to own 12% of the new company after the merger. The deal is expected to close in the second quarter of 2022.

About Rumble: Built with a belief that all creators can freely express themselves, Rumble has taken on other social media and video platforms that have “censored” creators.

“Rumble is designed to be the rails and independent infrastructure that is immune to cancel culture,” Rumble founder and CEO Chris Pavlovski said. “We are a movement that does not stifle, censor or punish creativity and believe everyone benefits from access to a neutral network with diverse ideas and opinions.”

Rumble has more than 36 million monthly active users, including 23 million in the U.S. The company has nearly eight billion minutes of watched video time monthly. Around 43% of uploaded videos on the platform are exclusive to Rumble.

Related Link: 7 Key Takeaways From The Donald Trump SPAC Deal 

Celebrities: Mentioned in the company’s investor presentation are celebrities who have joined the platform. The list includes Dr. Drew, Russell Brand, UFC fighter Jorge Masvidal, Dan Borgino and former President Donald J. Trump.

Borgino is mentioned as a case study in the presentation with the conservative voice having 864,000 subscribers on YouTube and hitting 1.9 million subscribers on Rumble.

Trump joined Rumble in June 2021, according to a report from Reuters. Trump has been banned from Meta Platforms Inc FB Twitter Inc TWTR and YouTube, the video platform owned by Alphabet Inc GOOGGOOGL.

Trump spokeswoman Liz Harrington said Trump joined Rumble in addition to his plans to launch his own social media platform, which is now part of the SPAC Digital World Acquisition Corp DWAC.

“It is a great way to reach the American people in a time of unprecedented assault on free speech in our country by Big Tech tyrants,” Harrington told Reuters of Rumble.

Another celebrity who is mentioned in the presentation is Joe Rogan, who runs a popular podcast on Spotify Technology SA SPOT.

“As long as places like Rumble exist, you know, and I think they’re going to grow,” Rogan said on Oct. 26, 2021. “We’ll keep saying the name Rumble. Get people to keep going over there. I’m not over there, but I certainly would be.”

Another name that may be familiar to investors that is on Rumble is Matt Kohrs, a prominent AMC Entertainment Holdings Inc AMC investor. Kohrs has been subject to short bans on YouTube in the past.

Growth Ahead: Rumble reported it had 36 million average monthly active users in the third quarter of 2021, compared to 1.6 million in the third quarter of 2020.

As of August 2021, the company reported 44 million monthly active users.

Rumble highlighted in its investor presentation it has growth similar to TikTok. The company is heavily targeting taking on YouTube by going after big contributors and offering a better platform and more monetization efforts.

“We have just begun monetizing our distribution,” the company said while mentioning advertising, subscriptions, tipping and internet-as-a-service.

Rumble is building its own advertising stack, which could help boost monetization efforts and company revenue and profitability in the future.

CFVI Price Action: CFVI shares are up 14.89% to $11.22 at the time of publication Thursday afternoon. Shares hit a high of $14.38 around the market open on Thursday.

Image by Gerd Altmann from Pixabay