More Problems at Rumble (RUM)
Rumble (NASDAQ: RUM — $2.56 billion) describes itself as a video sharing platform “on a mission to protect a free and open internet.” In reality, Rumble is a hotbed for far-right content, and the recent arrest of one of its biggest stars, the company’s continued struggles to break into organic mainstream content, and an accounting reclassification may be signs of deeper problems. Based on a review of Rumble’s filings, The Bear Cave believes Rumble lacks the economic substance of a $2.5 billion business.
The Bear Cave first published on Rumble in October and highlighted the company’s potentially dubious operating metrics, questionable advertisers, and stretched valuation.
A lot has happened since then.
For one, Rumble released its first quarterly results as a public company and reported $11 million in revenue and a $1.8 million net loss, in part from $6.5 million in sales and marketing expenses for the quarter. Rumble discloses that those expenses “consist primarily of costs related to incentivizing top content creators to promote and join our platform.”
According to data from SimilarWeb, Rumble’s top channel by web keyword search belongs to Andrew Tate, an internet personality banned by multiple platforms.
In August 2022, Rumble’s official Twitter account shared an interview between Mr. Tate and Fox News anchor Tucker Carlson:
In the interview, Mr. Tate talks about his decision to move to Rumble and says, in part,
“When they come to cancel you, it comes hard and fast… In real time you are watching your phone and apps just exploding. It’s crazy. I don’t want to go conspiracy theorist, I’m just telling people what I’ve been through. It’s really crazy. If they will do it to me for saying women can’t park a car, which was a joke, sorry world, then they will do it to basically anybody. And you have to be prepared for that and that’s one of the reasons I’ve moved to Rumble because I’ve had long conversations with senior management there and they promised I can make jokes…”
In a September 2022 interview titled “Andrew Tate On His Decision To Sign With Rumble,” Mr. Tate repeated that sentiment and says, in part,
“Rumble were the brave ones. They stood up and they signed me…. The problem with the social media companies and the matrix is they fired all their bullets, they can’t start printing again that I’m a misogynist… They’ve run out of ammo, and I’m still alive… Rumble were first people who stood up to me and said you know what, we got your back 100%, including financially. And they offered me a huge financial incentive and I said you know what, don’t worry about that. You keep the stock, it’s not about the money… Karma is going to reward me because I’m a positive influence.”
Mr. Tate has uploaded approximately 250 videos to the Rumble platform with the most recent one on December 26, 2022 titled, “THE TRUTH about ILLUMINATI, and EXPOSING BALENCIAGA!!!”
Three days later Andrew Tate was arrested by Romanian authorities on charges of rape and human trafficking. He remains in custody.
Other top Rumble creators appear equally troubling. For example, the top video on Rumble’s “battle leaderboard” yesterday was a two-hour livestream from Phil Godlewski that has been viewed 350,000 times. In the video, Mr. Godlewski says, “I do not think Nancy Pelosi is still alive” and gave recommendations on how to find flat Earth maps. He also says, in part,
“Any martial law you see taking place in any area of the country right now is part of a white hat operation. No one is able to declare martial law outside of the white hats. So whatever you’re seeing is part of a white hat operation.”