Author: Nancy, PANews
On February 7, video sharing platform Rumble announced that it has completed a $775 million strategic investment from Tether. Although Tether, which earns billions of dollars in annual profits, has been accelerating its investment pace in recent months, Rumble's cross-industry investment is still surprising.
The Motivation Behind the Over $775 Million Strategic Investment
After Rumble announced in December 2024 that it had reached a final agreement with Tether and received a $775 million strategic investment, this investment and tender offer were officially completed in recent days. As part of the transaction, Tether purchased 103,333,333 shares of Rumble Class A common stock at a price of $7.50 per share, for a total of $775 million. Of this, $250 million will be used for growth plans, including attracting more content creators, strategic acquisitions, and enhancing Rumble Cloud's technical infrastructure.
As a video sharing platform founded in 2013, Rumble has gained the favor of a large number of creators by advocating for freedom of speech, a fairer revenue distribution, and granting more copyrights, and has also become a safe haven for those opposing the over-regulation of traditional social media platforms. For example, during the 2024 US presidential election, Rumble broke the record with 1.79 million concurrent viewers, becoming the center of political discussion.
Regarding this investment, Rumble CEO Chris Pavlovski revealed in an interview with Barstool Sports founder Dave Portnoy that this investment will drive Rumble's global expansion, attract new creators, and redefine the meaning of a free speech platform. Pavlovski also mentioned the impact of Trump's election on Rumble's mission, believing that the cooperation with Tether will help Rumble expand globally, especially in regions where freedom of speech is suppressed. The integration of cryptocurrencies will change the way creators monetize their content, providing cryptocurrency-based tipping and payment options, further reducing reliance on centralized systems.
In addition, Tether's choice to invest in Rumble may be related to the latter's close ties with former US President Trump, as well as its desire to expand its business layout in the US.
Rumble has a close relationship with former US President Trump and has even been dubbed the "Trump concept stock" by the outside world. As early as during the 2020 US presidential election, when Trump was banned from mainstream social media platforms like Facebook, Twitter, and YouTube, he began to shift to Rumble. At the same time, Trump also launched his own social media platform, Truth Social, which used Rumble's video and streaming services. It is worth mentioning that in addition to Trump, the venture capital fund Narya Capital Management of US Vice President J.D. Vance also participated in Rumble's investment.
With Trump's return to power, the US-friendly crypto policy environment has also attracted Tether to layout in the market. In January this year, Tether CEO Paolo Ardoino pointed out in an interview with Bloomberg TV that the expected improvement in the crypto regulatory environment, coupled with Tether's recent $775 million investment in the US-listed company Rumble, has provided the company with a good opportunity to re-evaluate the US market. However, he also emphasized that while the possibility of further expansion into the US market is not ruled out, they need to wait for regulatory clarity and specific guidance, and will make the final decision based on the development of the US legal framework.
Buying Bitcoin, Crypto Strategy Helps Stock Price Soar Significantly
Since the end of last year, Rumble has frequently appeared in the crypto field. In addition to receiving Tether's investment, Rumble has also actively built a Bitcoin reserve and launched a series of related crypto products.
"Should Rumble add Bitcoin to its balance sheet?" In November 2024, Rumble CEO Chris Pavlovski launched a poll on X, asking whether Bitcoin should be included in the company's balance sheet, which received strong support.
A few days later, Rumble announced an investment of up to $20 million to purchase Bitcoin, as an important part of the company's financial diversification strategy, and positioned Bitcoin as a strategic asset and inflation hedging tool.
At the time, Chris Pavlovski stated that Bitcoin is still in the early adoption stage, and crypto-friendly US government policies and the increase in institutional investors are accelerating this process. Unlike any government-issued currency, Bitcoin will not be diluted by endless printing, making it a valuable inflation hedging tool and an excellent complement to the treasury. The company plans to integrate cryptocurrencies into its ecosystem to build a leading video and cloud service platform for the crypto community. Of course, Chris Pavlovski also later stated that this would not be the last time, hinting that the company may continue to increase its Bitcoin holdings in the future.
In January this year, Rumble also announced the launch of the Rumble Wallet crypto wallet supporting Bitcoin and USDT, which will provide creators with new payment methods. Creators can receive fan tips and subscription income through these two cryptocurrencies. Tether CEO Paolo Ardoino said, "A cool feature of Rumble Wallet is the use of AI agents/assistants to help manage payments, suggest Bitcoin savings strategies based on past activity, and tip the most followed creators."
This series of crypto strategic deployments has also had a positive impact on Rumble's stock price. According to Google Finance data, since Rumble announced its intention to adopt a Bitcoin financial strategy, the company's stock price has soared, with its stock price reaching a historical high of $16.27, a 169.8% increase.
