Rumble Sends Letter to London Stock Exchange CEO Regarding Russell 3000 Exclusion
June 13 2024 - 4:19PM
Rumble Inc. (Nasdaq: RUM) ("Rumble"), the video sharing platform
and cloud services provider, has sent a letter to the CEO of the
London Stock Exchange Group (“LSEG”) regarding the potential
exclusion of Rumble from the Russell 3000 Index. The letter in its
entirety is included below.
Letter Sent by Rumble to London Stock
Exchange Group
Mr. David SchwimmerChief Executive OfficerLondon
Stock Exchange Group10 Paternoster SquareLondon, EC4M 7LSUnited
Kingdom
Dear Mr. Schwimmer:
I would like to
alert you to errors by the staff of the London Stock Exchange Group
(LSEG) in connection with the determination of the Russell 3000
Index. Despite our repeated requests, LSEG staff have failed to
address obvious errors in their calculations of the voting rights
of Rumble Inc. (NASDAQ: RUM), leading to the potential exclusion of
Rumble from the Russell 3000 Index. I urge you to correct this
error immediately, before the LSEG finalizes the Russell 3000 Index
and publishes misleading information to investors and the
public.
When LSEG published
the preliminary Russell 3000 Index in late May 2024, we noticed the
omission of Rumble. We inquired with LSEG staff, who informed us
that Rumble was not included on the list because Rumble did not
meet the Index’s minimum voting rights requirement. Upon
investigation, we discovered that the LSEG staff’s calculations
were incorrect. Using the LSEG’s formula and methodology, publicly
held shares of Rumble make up at least 5.5 percent of the total
voting rights of the company—placing Rumble above the Russell
3000’s minimum threshold of 5.0 percent.
The error in LSEG’s math should have been
obvious to the LSEG staff. Under their calculation, only 13 million
shares of Rumble class A common stock are in public hands. However,
a quick glance at Rumble’s publicly filed proxy statement, the
source that LSEG ostensibly relied upon, discloses that
approximately 16 million class A shares are controlled by Dan
Bongino. Mr. Bongino is an unaffiliated third-party shareholder who
reported his holdings on Schedule 13G. Furthermore, shareholders of
the special purpose acquisition company (SPAC) that Rumble combined
with when it went public in September 2022 hold approximately 30
million class A shares, none of which are held by company insiders.
These two easily discernable facts alone show that LSEG’s claim of
13 million shares of Rumble class A stock in public hands is wrong
on its face.
On multiple occasions since the release of the
preliminary index, Rumble has sent emails noting the error and
offered phone calls or meetings to explain the accurate calculation
of our voting rights to LSEG. Every time, LSEG staff have been
unwilling to correct their mistake, citing a need to “stay
consistent” with their process. This refusal to correct an obvious
error does a disservice to investors in the Russell 3000 Index. If
LSEG is unwilling to correct an obvious mistake related to Rumble,
how many other companies are erroneously included in the Russell
3000 Index or are erroneously excluded from it? Anyone considering
whether to invest in the Russell 3000 Index deserves to know the
answer. Yet without diligent investigation, the public may never
know the extent to which the Russell 3000 is contaminated by flawed
or misleading information because its management chose to
prioritize the consistency of its process over the accuracy of
publicized data.
Before finalizing the Russell 3000 Index, I hope
you will take this opportunity to rectify the deficiencies in the
LSEG’s processes and correct the calculations related to Rumble and
any similarly situated companies. Our team is available at any time
to provide additional details or explanation.
Sincerely,
Michael J. EllisGeneral Counsel
About Rumble
Rumble is a high-growth neutral video platform
and cloud services provider that is creating the rails and
independent infrastructure designed to be immune to cancel culture.
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.
For investor inquiries, please
contact:
Shannon DevineMZ Group, MZ North
America203-741-8811investors@rumble.comSource: Rumble Inc.
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