What happened
Shares of special purpose acquisition company (SPAC) CF Acquisition Corp. VI (CFVI) had surged 29.2% as of 1:10 p.m. ET Monday, after the company that this SPAC plans to merge with and take public, Rumble, made a public bid to get Joe Rogan to leave Spotify Technology for Rumble.
If you're not familiar with Rumble, check out this quick primer from my colleague Rich Duprey, who explains how Rumble aims to become a platform for artists who've been "canceled" on Facebook, Twitter, and YouTube.
Image source: Getty Images.
So what
Done reading now? Great. Here's what Rumble is up to today -- and why it's causing CF Acquisition Corp. VI shares to surge:
In post on Twitter (which I realize is kind of counterintuitive), the Twitter alternative addressed podcast star Joe Rogan directly this morning, and offered Rogan $100 million, paid over four years, to leave Spotify and become Rumble's biggest draw.
Sweetening the offer, Rumble promised Rogan that he would suffer "no censorship" on Rumble, that "all" Rogan's shows would be streamable on Rumble (at last report, Engadget had discovered some 100 The Joe Rogan Experience episodes purged from Spotify's archives), and finally promised that this offer is "totally legit" -- and not just, for example, a PR ploy to draw attention to the upcoming Rumble IPO.
Hey @joerogan, we are ready to fight alongside you. See the note from our CEO @chrispavlovski... pic.twitter.com/G7ahfNNjtP
-- Rumble (@rumblevideo) February 7, 2022
Now what
For Rogan, this sounds like a pretty sweet deal. On the one hand, he now has the option of walking away from Spotify and losing no money if he jumps to Rumble. On the other hand, I suspect by this point he's kind of hoping that Spotify will fire him, allowing him to take the balance of the $100 million owed on his Spotify contract (signed last year), and also take a second $100 million from Rumble.
Similarly, this kind of looks like a no-lose situation for Rumble, and for CF Acquisition Corp. VI. Heads, Rogan takes them up on their offer and they win a marquee show for their service. Tails, Rogan passes on the deal (or Spotify refuses to release him from his contract), and Rumble at least gets a big boost in visibility and free PR from today's tweet.
As Rumble's official IPO approaches in the second quarter of 2022, that free PR could be priceless.
