Chris Pavlovski, the founder and CEO of Rumble Inc., is now worth more than $1.8 billion after his social media company went public via a SPAC deal.
The video network, a lightly moderated platform, features daily shows from hosts Russel Brand and Glenn Greenwald. The company merged with blank check financial services firm Cantor Fitzgerald led by Howard Lutnick. Pavlovski owns around 140 million shares in Rumble Inc., a company founded in 2013 by him.
During the 2020 US presidential election, Rumble Inc. gained popularity. During that time, large tech platforms such as YouTube moderated content. They restricted free speech relating to the Covid pandemic and the January 6 Capitol Hill riots leading to conservatives getting frustrated. According to the IPO draft prospectus, Rumble had 41 million monthly active users.
New Mission
The filing with the SEC says that Rumble is on a mission to protect open and free internet.
A Rumble spokesperson did not respond to requests for comment. The Longboat Key, Florida, and Toronto-based company shares rose 9% Thursday to $13.25.
Special Purpose Acquisition Companies (SPAC) have made less money recently, with investors slowing down on the current economy and global central banks continuing to tighten monetary policy.
Chamath Palihapitiya, known as the “SPAC King,” last week closed two of his SPAC companies after it failed to identify target companies. In the meantime, the blank-cheque firm Digital World Acquisition Corp. merged with Media & Technology group owned by former US president Donald Trump. The shares are now trading at $17 after peaking at $175 in October last year.
The SPAC deal gave $400 million to Rumble Inc., which intends to use some of the proceeds to add more content creators and target a larger international audience. Rumble also plans to offer its cloud service and an ad network. This move aims to ensure continuous operations without depending on providers with more strict content policies. Trump Social App from Trump media informed that it became the first publisher on Rumble’s Ad platform.
Peter Theil is known for his political support of Trump and his early investment in Palantir Technologies Inc and Facebook. The Billionaire, along with Narya Capital, a VC firm, co-led an investment in Rumble inc. last year. They valued Rumble Inc. at $ 500 million then. Today Rumble has a market value of $3.7 billion through Thiel’s stake is undisclosed.
A former secret service agent and now a conservative investor, Dan Bongino is among the big winners. His investment is worth $212 million, while Ryan Milnes, Director in Rumble, has a stake worth $670 million.
Rumble paid $1.08 million to Cosmic Development, a firm owned by Pavlovski and Milnes, for content moderation.
Blank check firm CF Acquisition Corp., Chairman and CEO, Lutnick also gained. He controls a share worth $148 million in Rumble through the SPAC deal.
