Rumble to Acquire Northern Data as Tether Commits $150 Million to Power AI Push

YouTube rival and Bitcoin treasury Rumble has said it is buying AI and high-performance-computing firm Northern Data in a deal backed by stablecoin giant Tether.

The alternative media company—which describes itself as “the freedom-first technology platform”—said Monday that it would get access to the German company’s GPUs and would work to expand its cloud business. Tether currently has a controlling stake in Northern Data.

Separate reports valued the deal at $970 million and $767 million, respectively. Decrypt reached out to Tether for clarification. Rumble shares were trading over 10% higher Monday morning in New York, following the announcement. 

“At Rumble, with the exchange offer for Northern Data, we will be in a position to expand our partnership with Tether, supply them as an anchor customer on our freedom-first AI infrastructure and help them execute on their game-changing AI plans rooted in privacy, independence and resilience,” Rumble Chairman and CEO Chris Pavlovski said in a statement. 

As part of the deal, valued at nearly $800 million, Northern Data shareholders will receive 2.0281 newly issued Class A Rumble shares in exchange for each Northern Data share held, the companies said.

In a separate announcement, Tether said that it would buy $150 million of GPUs from Rumble to “co-create tools that empower content creators worldwide,” with the aim to “fuel global AI development at scale with the hardware base and geopolitical independence to build a self-sustaining, open AI infrastructure that does not rely on centralized cloud providers.”

The transaction will be effective at the closing of Rumble’s exchange offer for Northern Data AG, Tether added. 

In Rumble further announced that Tether would invest $100 million in the video platform for advertising in a bid to up usage of Rumble’s crypto wallet.

El Salvador-based Tether last year said that it would invest $775 million in Rumble’s platform, starting with a $250 million cash plug. 

El Salvador-based Tether works to mint USDT, the fourth-biggest cryptocurrency by market cap. USDT is a stablecoin pegged to and backed by the U.S. dollar.

Rumble is a Canadian company that allows users to stream and post videos. It competes with YouTube, and trades on the Nasdaq as RUM. 

The platform differentiates itself by supporting free speech, and has been popular with American conservative creators and conspiracy theorists alike.

Rumble last year started putting Bitcoin on its balance sheet, and now holds 211 BTC worth over $22 million at today’s prices.