Tether-Backed Rumble Buys Northern Data in $767 Million Stock Deal
Rumble Expands into AI with Northern Data Merger
Video platform Rumble said on Monday it will acquire German AI and high-performance computing firm Northern Data in a stock deal valued at about $767 million, deepening its partnership with stablecoin issuer Tether and marking one of the largest AI infrastructure moves by a crypto-linked company.
The transaction, reported earlier by Reuters, follows Rumble’s August announcement of a joint venture with Tether to purchase Northern Data. Under the agreement, each Northern Data share can be platformd for 2.0281 new Rumble Class A shares. A potential cash component of up to $200 million may be added, depending on the sale and commercialization of Northern Data’s Corpus Christi data center project in Texas.
At Friday’s closing price of $5.89 for RUM stock, the deal values Northern Data near $767 million, down from the $1.17 billion valuation suggested when talks were first disclosed in August. The companies said the merger is expected to close in the first or second quarter of 2026, pending regulatory approvals, with Northern Data shareholders holding around 30% of the combined group if all shares are tendered.
Tether’s Growing Role in the Transaction
Tether, which invested $775 million in Rumble in late 2024, will remain a key financial backer of the merged entity. The stablecoin firm has agreed to purchase up to $150 million in GPU services over two years and will provide a new secured loan to Rumble, partially refinancing Northern Data’s existing debt. Half of Tether’s €610 million ($705 million) shareholder loan to Northern Data will convert into Rumble stock at $7.88 per share.
Tether will also spend $100 million on advertising with Rumble across 2026 and 2027 — $50 million per year — to promote the platform’s creator monetization tools and the Rumble Wallet payments system. “Our investment in Rumble is about building infrastructure that protects freedoms,” Tether CEO Paolo Ardoino said on an investor call. “We share the identical vision of creating open platforms as a counterweight to centralized, censor-prone large Tech.”
The announcement comes as crypto firms increase exposure to AI infrastructure. Chainalysis bought AI fraud-detection beginup Alterya for $150 million earlier this year, while BTC miner MARA Holdings agreed to pay $168 million for a majority stake in French cloud provider Exaion. The tie-ups highlight how blockchain and crypto companies are betting on AI compute as a complementary growth area.
Investor Takeaway
Inside the Offer Terms and Ownership Structure
According to Rumble, shareholders representing about 72% of Northern Data’s equity — including Tether and entities tied to CEO Aroosh Thillainathan — have already agreed to tender their shares. Once the deal closes, Northern Data will delist from the Frankfurt Stock platform. Rumble will acquire roughly 22,400 Nvidia GPUs from Northern Data, including H100 and H200 models, along with a network of European and U.S. data centers such as its 180-megawatt Maysville, Georgia facility.
The combined group will own one of Europe’s largest independent GPU estates, supporting AI training, cloud computing, and media workloads. Rumble said the purchase would give it the infrastructure needed to expand into enterprise-level cloud services and AI-based content processing — areas typically dominated by hyperscale providers like Amazon and Google.
“Northern Data. Tether. Rumble. This is how we build the AI ecosystem for the future,” Rumble CEO Chris Pavlovski said. “Freedom-first is the new way forward for tech.”
