Video platform Rumble, which hosts U.S. President Donald Trump’s Truth Social, is weighing boosting its global AI cloud capabilities by acquiring Germany’s Northern Data, the companies said.
Rumble said it was considering making an offer for the company which would give it control of Northern Data’s cloud business, Taiga, and its large-scale data center arm, Ardent, with plans to integrate both into its own operations.
The Taiga cloud unit holds a significant inventory of Nvidia graphics processing unit (GPU) chips, including around 20,480 H100s and over 2,000 H200s, Rumble said.
“Following consummation of the potential transaction, Tether would become an important customer of Rumble, with a multi-year commitment to purchase GPUs,” Rumble said.
Under a potential exchange offer, Tether is expected to be Rumble’s largest single holder of its class A common stock and the majority of voting rights would continue to lie with Rumble CEO Chris Pavlovski, Rumble said.
Tether currently owns 48 per cent of Rumble, according to LSEG data. It invested $775 million in the video platform in December last year. Tether holds 54 per cent of Northern Data, according to Rumble.
Rumble is considering offering 2.319 shares for each Northern Data share, both companies said.
The proposed offer values Northern Data at about $18.3 per share, based on Reuters calculations, and represents a discount of about 32 per cent to the German company’s last closing price in Frankfurt.
Reuters calculated the potential total deal value at approximately $1.17 billion.
A deal on the current terms would result in Northern Data shareholders owning about 33.3 per cent of Rumble’s shares.
The offer launch would be subject to due diligence, among other things.
Northern Data said on Monday that its board was evaluating Rumble’s potential offer and is open for further discussions.
Tether has expressed support for the transaction, according to the statements.
However, the companies said there was no certainty that the discussions would ultimately result in a formal offer for the German group.
Tether had no immediate comment.
CRYPTO MINER SALE
Rumble went public in December 2021 via a SPAC deal. Earlier that year it said its investors included tech billionaire Peter Thiel and Narya, an investment firm co-founded by JD Vance, now U.S. vice president.
The proposed deal would also involve Northern Data selling its crypto mining business, Peak Mining, and using the proceeds to repay part of an existing loan from Tether to Northern Data, Rumble said.
Tether loaned Northern Data 575 million euros almost two years ago to expand its own business.
Tether is the world’s largest stablecoin company. Based in El Salvador, it says it has issued more than $160 billion of its dollar-pegged cryptocurrency.
