Roundtable signs $1B, 10-year deal with Paradium.AI for media platform

Roundtable (NASDAQ: RTB) has announced a 10-year, $1 billion agreement with Paradium.AI (NYSE: PAAI), formerly known as The Arena Group, to migrate and operate Paradium's media portfolio on Roundtable's AI and decentralized finance-powered MediaOS platform.

Under the agreement, approximately two dozen media brands and nearly 100 million monthly consumers will move to Roundtable's platform, including TheStreet, Parade, Men's Journal, Athlon Sports, and Autoblog. Roundtable will assume Paradium's advertising operations and receive a worldwide, non-cancelable, perpetual license to Paradium's technical assets.

Following deal closure, Roundtable projects $100 million in annualized revenue and an EBITDA-positive run rate on a standalone basis. The company also anticipates that hundreds of journalists across the migrated brands will use its Coinbase-integrated smart-wallet and real-time payment infrastructure.

The transaction is contingent on Roundtable making a minority investment of $89 million in cash and stock for approximately 49% of Paradium in a private transaction, along with other conditions including funding requirements, with completion targeted for the fourth quarter.

"Professional media has historically surrendered economics, data and audience control to big tech, social platforms and intermediaries — and now AI," said RTB co-founder Bill Sornsin. "Roundtable's operating system reverses that equation."

The deal reunites Paradium CEO Paul Edmondson with Roundtable founders James Heckman and Bill Sornsin, who previously worked together in 2020. The companies said they expect the partnership to reduce costs by tens of millions of dollars for both parties.

Information in this article is based on a press release statement from Roundtable. The company noted that financial forecasts are subject to macroeconomic conditions, competitive forces, capital availability, and other operational factors that may cause actual results to differ materially.

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