Six law firms guide Rumble’s $1.2 billion pursuit of German AI company

A consortium of six major law firms is providing counsel on Rumble‘s proposed stock-swap acquisition of Northern Data Group, a Germany-based artificial intelligence company with a comprehensive technology stack, in a deal that places the target’s value at $1.17 billion.

The U.S. video streaming platform seeks to purchase Northern Data’s entire equity stake, with the transaction conditional upon the German firm’s disposal of its cryptocurrency mining division, Peak Mining, in a separate $235 million sale. Rumble operates as both a video hosting service and cloud infrastructure provider on the Nasdaq exchange, gaining prominence for supporting Trump’s Truth Social platform and pursuing litigation against Brazil’s top judicial official over alleged censorship of American “dissenting” accounts.

Willkie Farr & Gallagher represents Rumble through M&A specialists Russell Leaf and Sean Ewen from their New York office, alongside David Huthmacher in Germany. The firm has previously defended Rumble successfully in an SEC probe and facilitated Tether’s $775 million strategic backing of the company. Huthmacher recently relocated to Willkie’s Munich practice after a brief tenure at Hogan Lovells following his departure from Kirkland & Ellis last November.

German firm Gleiss Lutz serves as primary legal advisor to Northern Data across all matters excluding tax considerations. Capital markets attorney Stephan Aubel heads the engagement, supported by Jacob von Andreae who handles foreign commerce regulations and investment oversight requirements.

Latham & Watkins acts for Northern Data through an M&A practice group directed by New York-based partners Robert Katz and James Gorton. German colleagues Alexander Stefan Rieger (corporate/M&A) and Oliver Seiler (capital markets) provide additional expertise.

McDermott, Will & Schulte counsels majority stakeholder Tether via teams primarily stationed in Frankfurt and New York. Capital markets partner Felix Ganzer leads the mandate alongside Daniel Woodard and Alexander Klein on financing matters, plus antitrust specialists Elai Katz and Laura Stammwitz.

Skadden‘s capital markets partner Stephan Hutter represents investment bank Jefferies, while Ashurst‘s German corporate practice head Florian Drinhausen advises Northern Data’s executive board.

(Pictured, left to right: David Huthmacher, Stephan Aubel, Alexander Stefan Rieger, Felix Ganzer, Stephan Hutter, Florian Drinhausen)