Rumble sends letter to LSEG CEO about potential Russell 3000 Index exclusion

Rumble has sent a letter to the CEO of the London Stock Exchange Grou regarding the potential exclusion of Rumble from the Russell 3000 Index. The letter in its entirety is included below…”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 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.”