YouTube competitor to go public after moving HQ to region

LONGBOAT KEY — Video and social media platform Rumble, which recently moved its headquarters to the region, plans to go public in a blank check company transaction that values the company at $2.1 billion.

Rumble, which bills itself as a politically-neutral competitor to YouTube and other sites, is going public through a SPAC, a special purpose acquisition company, according to a statement. Prominent Wall Street Cantor Fitzgerald is sponsoring the SPAC, under the name CF Acquisition Corp. A SPAC, also known as a blank check company, is an entity that’s essentially a shell company where investors raise or pool money to take another company public.

The SPAC announcement is the second major move from Rumble in recent weeks. In early November, the company said it’s moving its headquarters from Toronto to Longboat Key. Rumble officials said they plan to hire 20-25 people right away for the new office and estimated the firm will invest upward of $50 million in Florida over the next several years to complement its move.

The SPAC transaction values Rumble at an initial enterprise value of $2.1 billion, with current Rumble shareholders having the ability to earn additional shares of the combined company if the stock reaches price hurdles of $15.00 and $17.50 per share. The transaction is expected to provide some $400 million in proceeds to Rumble, the release states.  

Rumble Founder and CEO Chris Pavlovski, in the statement, says the SPAC will provide the firm with the “additional capital necessary to continue to scale our business and carry out our mission.”

Being a public company will allow the people that believe in our mission to invest and join us as we seek to restore a free and open internet,” Pavlovski adds in a Dec. 1 note on the firm’s website. “Importantly, I am going to retain voting control of the combined company to facilitate the execution of Rumble’s mission on behalf of all stakeholders.”

After closing of the Rumble-CF Acquisition SPAC, expected in the second quarter of 2022, the combined company will be called Rumble Inc. and officials expect it will be publicly listed on Nasdaq. Shares will trade on Nasdaq under the symbol CFVI until the closing of the transaction, the release states.

“Rumble is the most exciting social media and video distribution platform in the market today,” Cantor Fitzgerald and CFVI Chairman and CEO Howard Lutnick says in the statement. “With 36 million average monthly active users in Q3 2021, including 44 million monthly active users in August 2021, it is clear Rumble is the new market for innovators, creators and consumers. I'm excited to support Rumble and its ability to operate the neutral video platform."

The boards of each of Rumble and CFVI unanimously approved the transaction. The transaction will require the approval of the stockholders of each of Rumble and CFVI and Rumble; Rumble stockholders, the release states, have agreed to support the transaction.

Cantor Fitzgerald & Co., the financial and capital markets advisor to CFVI on the deal, is a leading Wall Street investment banks. Founded in 1945, it has 12,000 employees and more than 5,000 institutional clients worldwide. The firm had offices in the World Trade Center in New York City and 658 employees were killed in the Sept. 11, 2001 terrorist attacks — most of its New York workforce.