Rumble Eyes $1.2 Billion Deal for Germany’s Northern Data
Video-sharing platform Rumble (RUM.O), which hosts former U.S. President Donald Trump’s Truth Social, is exploring a $1.17 billion acquisition of German tech firm Northern Data (NB2.DE) to expand its global AI cloud infrastructure.
The potential deal would give Rumble control of Northern Data’s Taiga cloud business, which owns a vast inventory of high-performance Nvidia GPUs (20,480 H100s and over 2,000 H200s), as well as its Ardent data center operations. Rumble plans to integrate these into its existing services.
As part of the transaction, Tether, the world’s largest stablecoin issuer, would become a key customer with a multi-year GPU purchase commitment. Tether, which already owns 48% of Rumble and 54% of Northern Data, invested $775 million in Rumble in December 2023. Under the proposed structure, Tether would emerge as the largest single holder of Rumble’s Class A common stock, while CEO Chris Pavlovski would retain majority voting control.
Rumble is considering offering 2.319 shares for each Northern Data share, valuing the German company at around $18.3 per share—a 32% discount to its recent Frankfurt closing price. If accepted, Northern Data shareholders would hold about 33.3% of Rumble.
Northern Data’s board confirmed it is reviewing the proposal and remains open to discussions, though both companies stressed that talks may not result in a formal offer. Meanwhile, Northern Data would sell its crypto mining unit, Peak Mining, and use proceeds to repay part of a €575 million loan from Tether.
Rumble, which went public in 2021 through a SPAC deal, counts Peter Thiel and Narya Capital (co-founded by U.S. Vice President JD Vance) among its early investors.
If completed, the acquisition would significantly boost Rumble’s AI cloud capabilities and deepen ties between Rumble, Northern Data, and Tether in the fast-growing GPU-driven infrastructure market.
