(Bloomberg) -- Rumble Inc., the conservative video network backed by billionaire Peter Thiel, became a publicly traded company Monday through a deal with a blank-check firm that will value the business at more than $2 billion. The shares rose as much as 40% during the company’s first day of trading.
The merger with CF Acquisition Corp. VI, a special purpose acquisition company backed by Wall Street firm Cantor Fitzgerald, will deliver $400 million in proceeds to Rumble. The company, which trades under the ticker symbol RUM, is one of a growing number of alternative media sites attracting new users as US political divisions intensify. Other conservative apps, including Parler, Gettr and Donald Trump’s Truth Social, have all been downloaded millions of times globally.
Rumble was founded in 2013, but its video sharing service didn’t really take off until recently. During the 2020 election and its aftermath, some conservatives grew frustrated with content moderation policies on large tech platforms that they said unfairly restricted their speech around topics including the pandemic and the Jan. 6 US Capitol riots.
In the month of August, Rumble’s monthly app installs surged by 250%, pushing the company’s total installations to 7 million, according to data from research firm Sensor Tower. Competing apps Parler, Gettr and Truth Social have been installed 11.4 million, 7.2 million and 3.3 million times respectively, Sensor Tower data show.
Rumble plans to use some of the proceeds from its SPAC deal to bring more creators to its platform and attract a larger audience. The platform now features daily live shows from the likes of Glenn Greenwald and Russell Brand that are exclusive to the platform. It also hosts right-wing commentator Dan Bongino along with other high-profile conservatives.
The company has plans to create its own cloud service — a move designed to ensure continuous operations independent of providers with more stringent content policies — and an ad network. Trump Media and Technology Group, which operates Truth Social, said in August it had joined Rumble’s ad platform as its first publisher. The company is also a potential early customer for Rumble’s future cloud offering, according to Rumble’s filing with the US Securities and Exchange Commission.
“We create technologies that are designed to be immune to cancel culture, because everyone benefits when people have access to more ideas, diverse opinions and dialogue,” Rumble wrote in its filing. “We are on a mission to protect a free and open internet.”
For Thiel — known as much for his early investments in Facebook and Palantir Technologies Inc. as for his political support for Donald Trump — Rumble is a sign that his long-held ambition to launch a conservative news network is taking shape. Thiel co-led an investment in the company last year along with VC firm Narya Capital. Narya, based in Cincinnati and named for a ring in the Lord of the Rings books, is also backed by Thiel and led by his one-time business associates Colin Greenspon and Ohio Republican Senate candidate JD Vance.
(Updates with shares in the first paragraph.)
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