Rumble close to $1.17B acquisition of Germany’s Northern Data to expand AI cloud

Rumble, the video platform best known for hosting Donald Trump’s Truth Social, is sizing up a major play in the AI infrastructure space. The company is weighing a $1.17 billion acquisition of Germany’s Northern Data, a move that would give it control of two key assets: Taiga, the cloud unit with a hefty stash of Nvidia GPUs, and Ardent, a large-scale data center operator.

Under the proposal, Rumble would offer 2.319 of its shares for each Northern Data share, valuing the Frankfurt-listed company at about $18.3 per share — roughly 32% below its last closing price. If the deal goes through, Northern Data shareholders would end up with around a third of Rumble’s stock.

From Video Hosting to AI Infrastructure: Rumble’s Big Pivot

Taiga’s GPU inventory is no small prize. The unit holds about 20,480 Nvidia H100 chips and more than 2,000 H200s — hardware that’s in high demand as companies race to build and train AI models. Rumble says it plans to fold both Taiga and Ardent into its operations. The transaction would also make Tether, the world’s largest stablecoin issuer, a major customer with a multi-year commitment to buy GPUs from Rumble.

Tether, which already owns 48% of Rumble and 54% of Northern Data, poured $775 million into the video platform last December. Under the current plan, it would become Rumble’s largest single Class A shareholder while CEO Chris Pavlovski keeps control of the majority voting rights. Tether has signaled support for the deal.

“Following consummation of the potential transaction, Tether would become an important customer of Rumble, with a multi-year commitment to purchase GPUs,” Rumble said.

Northern Data’s board says it’s reviewing the offer and is open to further talks. Part of the plan involves selling off Northern Data’s crypto mining business, Peak Mining, and using the proceeds to pay down a €575 million loan from Tether. That loan, made nearly two years ago, was meant to help Northern Data expand its operations.

The deal isn’t locked yet — it’s still subject to due diligence and other conditions. However, if it moves ahead, Rumble would transition from being a politically charged video platform to an AI cloud contender with significant GPU firepower.

Rumble went public in December 2021 through a SPAC merger. Earlier that year, it named tech billionaire Peter Thiel and Narya, an investment firm co-founded by JD Vance, now U.S. vice president, among its backers.