Rumble, known for supporting independent creators, is exploring an acquisition of Northern Data to enhance its presence in the artificial intelligence space.
Rumble's Goals for Northern Data
Rumble is considering an all-stock acquisition of Northern Data valued at approximately $1.17 billion. If successful, Northern Data shareholders would receive 2.319 Rumble Class A shares for each of their shares, resulting in about 33.3% ownership of the combined entity. Rumble believes that acquiring powerful computing resources such as Taiga Cloud and Ardent—with their 20,480 Nvidia H100 GPUs—will enable it to become a global leader in AI cloud technology.
Conditions of the Deal: Sale of Bitcoin Mining Business
As a condition of the deal, Northern Data must divest its Peak Mining Bitcoin business before the deal can close. This process is underway, involving a $235 million agreement with U.S. miner Elektron Energy, which includes $175 million upfront and the remainder tied to performance targets. Proceeds from the sale will be used to repay part of a shareholder loan from Tether, which owns 54% of Northern Data.
Market Reaction to the News
Despite the potential opportunities, Northern Data's stock fell by 27% following the announcement of the offer, reaching a yearly low. The offer values the company at roughly $18.3 per share, a 32% discount from its last closing price in Frankfurt.
Currently, the acquisition remains in discussion, and if Rumble proceeds, it could lead to interesting developments in the cryptocurrency and AI markets.
