Statement on Dan Bongino Being Named Deputy Director of the FBI

Rhea-AI Summary

Rumble (NASDAQ:RUM) announced that content creator Dan Bongino has been appointed as Deputy Director of the FBI in the Trump Administration. CEO Chris Pavlovski praised Bongino's contribution to the platform, highlighting his role as one of the first major creators to join Rumble in 2020 and his record-setting livestreaming performances.

Bongino, who remains a significant shareholder in Rumble, has been instrumental in the platform's growth by bringing new viewers. The company noted that revenue derived from Bongino's content through third-party advertising arrangements is not material to Rumble's finances. The platform expects to continue increasing its user base and looks forward to Bongino's potential return after his government service.

Positive

• Platform growth driven by Bongino's audience contribution
• Retention of significant shareholder (Bongino) despite temporary departure

Negative

• Loss of top-performing content creator who led all online livestreams in audience size
• Revenue from Bongino's content through third-party advertising not material to company

LONGBOAT KEY, Fla., Feb. 23, 2025 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Rumble (NASDAQ:RUM), the video-sharing platform and cloud services provider, today released the following statement from CEO and Chairman Chris Pavlovski regarding the recent appointment of content creator Dan Bongino as Deputy Director of the FBI in the Trump Administration:

“Dan Bongino is a pioneer and a free speech warrior, and it has been an honor to host his content on Rumble. More than just that, he has been a mentor to me personally through these important years of Rumble’s explosive growth, and he has become a dear friend I will have for life. Dan was one of the first major creators to move his content to Rumble in 2020 and has set many livestreaming records ever since. He believes strongly in the innate human right to self-expression—in fact, he’s turned it into an art form—and he knows that the best antidote to speech you don’t like is more speech. We wish Dan all the success in the world as he goes to work for the people of the United States at the request of President Trump, and I commend the President on his selection. Dan Bongino is the best!”

The presence of The Dan Bongino Show on Rumble has been instrumental to the rapid growth of the platform, and the new viewers he brought in have positioned Rumble to continue to increase its user base in the years to come. Bongino is a significant shareholder in the company, and Rumble looks forward to his return when this next phase of his service to his country concludes.

As a content creator on Rumble, Bongino set new standards for streaming excellence, routinely leading all online livestreams in audience size and concurrent viewers, regardless of platform. Given the third-party advertising arrangement related to Bongino's content, the revenue Rumble derived from the content is not material to the company.

ABOUT RUMBLE

Rumble is a high-growth video platform and cloud services provider that is creating an independent infrastructure. Rumble’s mission is to restore the internet to its roots by making it free and open once again. For more information, visit: corp.rumble.com.

Forward-Looking Statements

Certain statements in this press release constitute “forward-looking statements” within the meaning of the U.S. Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. Statements contained in this press release that are not historical facts are forward-looking statements and include, for example, statements regarding our expectations or beliefs regarding the impact of the departure of Dan Bongino on Rumble. Certain of these forward-looking statements can be identified by using words such as “anticipates,” “believes,” “intends,” “estimates,” “targets,” “expects,” “endeavors,” “forecasts,” “well underway,” “could,” “will,” “may,” “future,” “likely,” “on track to deliver,” “on a trajectory,” “continues to,” “looks forward to,” “is primed to,” “plans,” “projects,” “assumes,” “should” or other similar expressions. Such forward-looking statements involve known and unknown risks and uncertainties, and our actual results could differ materially from future results expressed or implied in these forward-looking statements. The forward-looking statements included in this release are based on our current beliefs and expectations of our management as of the date of this release. These statements are not guarantees or indicative of future performance. Important assumptions and other important factors that could cause actual results to differ materially from those forward-looking statements include risks relating to the departure of Dan Bongino on Rumble’s business, including any impact on our monthly active users; the risk that we may be unable to derive additional benefits from Rumble’s relationship with Tether; risks inherent with our increasing affiliation with crypto assets, including volatility, as well as regulatory and reputational risks; the risks of implementing a new treasury diversification strategy; our ability to grow and manage future growth profitably over time, maintain relationships with customers, compete within our industry and retain key employees; the possibility that we may be adversely impacted by economic, business, and/or competitive factors; our limited operating history makes it difficult to evaluate our business and prospects; our recent and rapid growth may not be indicative of future performance; we may not continue to grow or maintain our active user base, and may not be able to achieve or maintain profitability; risks relating to our ability to attract new advertisers, or the potential loss of existing advertisers or the reduction of or failure by existing advertisers to maintain or increase their advertising budgets; Rumble Cloud, our recently launched cloud services business, may not achieve success and, as a result, our business, financial condition and results of operations could be adversely affected; negative media campaigns may adversely impact our financial performance, results of operations, and relationships with our business partners, including content creators and advertisers; spam activity, including inauthentic and fraudulent user activity, if undetected, may contribute, from time to time, to some amount of overstatement of our performance indicators; we collect, store, and process large amounts of user video content and personal information of our users and subscribers and, if our security measures are breached, our sites and applications may be perceived as not being secure, traffic and advertisers may curtail or stop viewing our content or using our services, our business and operating results could be harmed, and we could face governmental investigations and legal claims from users and subscribers; we may fail to comply with applicable privacy laws; we are subject to cybersecurity risks and interruptions or failures in our information technology systems and, notwithstanding our efforts to enhance our protection from such risks, a cyber incident could occur and result in information theft, data corruption, operational disruption and/or financial loss; we may be found to have infringed on the intellectual property of others, which could expose us to substantial losses or restrict our operations; we may face liability for hosting a variety of tortious or unlawful materials uploaded by third parties, notwithstanding the liability protections of Section 230 of the Communications Decency Act of 1996; we may face negative publicity for removing, or declining to remove, certain content, regardless of whether such content violated any law; paid endorsements by our content creators may expose us to regulatory risk, liability, and compliance costs, and, as a result, may adversely affect our business, financial condition and results of operations; our traffic growth, engagement, and monetization depend upon effective operation within and compatibility with operating systems, networks, devices, web browsers and standards, including mobile operating systems, networks, and standards that we do not control; our business depends on continued and unimpeded access to our content and services on the internet and, if we or those who engage with our content experience disruptions in internet service, or if internet service providers are able to block, degrade or charge for access to our content and services, we could incur additional expenses and the loss of traffic and advertisers; we face significant market competition, and if we are unable to compete effectively with our competitors for traffic and advertising spend, our business and operating results could be harmed; we rely on data from third parties to calculate certain of our performance metrics and real or perceived inaccuracies in such metrics may harm our reputation and negatively affect our business; changes to our existing content and services could fail to attract traffic and advertisers or fail to generate revenue; we derive the majority of our revenue from advertising and the failure to attract new advertisers, the loss of existing advertisers, or the reduction of or failure by existing advertisers to maintain or increase their advertising budgets would adversely affect our business; we depend on third-party vendors, including internet service providers, advertising networks, and data centers, to provide core services; hosting and delivery costs may increase unexpectedly; we have offered and intend to continue to offer incentives, including economic incentives, to content creators to join our platform, and these arrangements may involve fixed payment obligations that are not contingent on actual revenue or performance metrics generated by the applicable content creator but rather are based on our modeled financial projections for that creator, which if not satisfied may adversely impact our financial performance, results of operations and liquidity; we may be unable to develop or maintain effective internal controls; potential diversion of management’s attention and consumption of resources as a result of acquisitions of other companies and success in integrating and otherwise achieving the benefits of recent and potential acquisitions; we may fail to maintain adequate operational and financial resources or raise additional capital or generate sufficient cash flows; changes in tax rates, changes in tax treatment of companies engaged in e-commerce, the adoption of new tax legislation, or exposure to additional tax liabilities may adversely impact our financial results; compliance obligations imposed by new privacy laws, laws regulating social media platforms and online speech in certain jurisdictions in which we operate, or industry practices may adversely affect our business; and those additional risks, uncertainties and factors described in more detail under the caption “Risk Factors” in our Annual Report on Form 10-K for the year ended December 31, 2023, and in our other filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission (the “SEC”). We do not intend, and, except as required by law, we undertake no obligation, to update any of our forward-looking statements after the issuance of this release to reflect any future events or circumstances. Given these risks and uncertainties, readers are cautioned not to place undue reliance on such forward-looking statements.

Rumble on Social Media

Investors and others should note that we announce material financial and operational information to our investors using our investor relations website (investors.rumble.com), press releases, SEC filings and public conference calls and webcasts. We also intend to use certain social media accounts as a means of disclosing information about us and our services and for complying with our disclosure obligations under Regulation FD: the @rumblevideo X (formerly Twitter) account (x.com/rumblevideo), the @gamingonrumble X (formerly Twitter) account (x.com/gamingonrumble), the @rumble TRUTH Social account (truthsocial.com/@rumble), the @chrispavlovski X (formerly Twitter) account (x.com/chrispavlovski), and the @chris TRUTH Social account (truthsocial.com/@chris), which Chris Pavlovski, our Chairman and Chief Executive Officer, also uses as a means for personal communications and observations. The information we post through these social media channels may be deemed material. Accordingly, investors should monitor these social media channels in addition to following our press releases, SEC filings and public conference calls and webcasts. The social media channels that we intend to use as a means of disclosing the information described above may be updated from time to time as listed on our investor relations website.

Contact: press@rumble.com

FAQ

How will Dan Bongino's FBI appointment affect Rumble (RUM) operations?

Bongino's departure will impact content creation, though the company states his third-party advertising revenue is not material to operations. Rumble expects to maintain user base growth despite his absence.

When did Dan Bongino first join Rumble (RUM) as a content creator?

Dan Bongino joined Rumble in 2020 as one of the first major creators on the platform.

What is Dan Bongino's current shareholding status in Rumble (RUM)?

According to the announcement, Bongino remains a significant shareholder in Rumble despite his appointment to the FBI.

What were Dan Bongino's streaming achievements on Rumble (RUM)?

Bongino set new standards for streaming excellence, consistently leading all online livestreams in audience size and concurrent viewers across all platforms.