Tucker Carlson speaks through the Politicon conference in Los Angeles, October 21, 2018
Wealthy Polk | Getty Images
Former Fox News host Tucker Carlson’s recent Twitter show has landed one among its first advertisers.
Carlson agreed to a seven-figure promoting take care of Public Square (PublicSq.), a shopping app that promotes itself as being the “place to begin” for conservatives to battle environmental, social and governance policies, in keeping with people acquainted with the matter.
The people declined to be named to be able to speak freely about an agreement that has yet to be made public. Representatives for Carlson didn’t return requests for comment before publication.
The move indicates that Carlson is seeking to use his recent program to lure conservative-friendly advertisers looking forward to a much bigger platform. The show, which Carlson launched after Fox News parted ways with him in late April, draws hundreds of thousands of views, although observers say the numbers have dropped since his first episode in June. Carlson’s show on Fox reportedly brought in $77.5 million in promoting revenue just last yr.
Carlson’s departure from Fox News got here after the network’s parent company settled Dominion Voting Systems’ defamation lawsuit for $787.5 million. The host figured prominently in the general public battle over the suit.
Carlson has grow to be much more outspokenly conservative on Twitter than he was on his primetime show on Fox. The show drew criticism recently when Carlson hosted social media personality Andrew Tate, who has been accused by Romanian investigators of committing human trafficking and rape. Tate and his brother have each denied wrongdoing.
Fox News sent a cease-and-desist letter to Carlson as he was ramping up his presence on Twitter after his departure from the corporate, according to Axios. The outlet reported that Carlson remains to be under contract with Fox and that the corporate maintains his contract keeps his content exclusive to the corporate through Dec. 31, 2024. Carlson’s team responded to the letter in a press release: “Tucker won’t be silenced by anyone.”
Carlson’s show appears to match well with the conservative leanings of Public Square.
Michael Seifert, the CEO of Public Square, previously discussed how the corporate desires to help tackle ESG, which has grow to be a goal for Republican lawmakers at each the state and federal levels, right-wing officials and media figures.
“So there’s really this cool parallel economy ecosystem that is been created. And all of it starts with consumer spending. We hate ESG, we hate DEI [Diversity Equity and Inclusion], we discuss these policies on a regular basis within the news,” he said in an interview with Breitbart News. “However the only way that we’re going to topple those corrupt philosophies which might be destroying our economy is by shifting consumer spending. And so we’re offering the best directory on the market to go and try this as your place to begin.”
Seifert declined to comment.
The Public Square ads are expected to start out appearing on Carlson’s show in late August. Public Square is about to go public on the Recent York Stock Exchange in the approaching days through a merger with Colombier Acquisition Corp., a special purpose acquisition company, in keeping with the Every day Mail.
A February press release for the merger said the deal “is predicted to supply as much as $158.5 million in money” to Public Square. Colombier Acquisition Corp. is led by Wall Street veteran Omeed Malik.
The discharge said the corporate’s expected recent board of directors, once it goes public, will include Seifert, Malik; Nick Ayers, who was an aide to then-Vice President Mike Pence; and former Arizona Senate GOP candidate and Peter Thiel ally Blake Masters. Ayers was initially involved with the Thiel-backed “anti-woke” bank GloriFi, but didn’t have a managerial role, in keeping with The Wall Street Journal. The newspaper reported in November that the startup was shutting down.
Malik’s investment firm, 1789 Capital, is planning to be one among the early investors into Carlson’s recent media company, the people said. It is going to be an eight-figure investment, and it’ll occur by the top of the summer, these people explained. The Wall Street Journal recently reported that Carlson and longtime ally Neil Patel wish to raise lots of of hundreds of thousands of dollars to fund the corporate.
Patel didn’t return a request for comment.
Malik, meanwhile, has began fundraising for 2 candidates for president: Republican Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis and Democrat Robert F. Kennedy Jr. Carlson said on one among his recent Twitter show episodes that Kennedy, who has grown popular on the political fringes together with his anti-vaccine views, is thrashing President Joe Biden within the Democratic primary. A June Quinnipiac poll shows Biden with 70 % support amongst Democrats and Democratic-leaning voters, while Kennedy has 17% amongst those self same groups.
Omeed Malik, CEO, Colombier Acquisition Corp on the Recent York Stock Exchange, June 17, 2021.
Source: NYSE
Carlson has played an early role within the 2024 presidential election since his departure from Fox. He recently hosted the Family Leadership Summit in Iowa, where he interviewed six Republican presidential candidates.
1789 Capital also has ties to a different key financier and potential investor in Carlson’s company: billionaire Republican megadonor Rebekah Mercer. PitchBook lists Mercer as an executive at 1789 Capital. The Recent York Post reported that Mercer and Masters are amongst a bunch of investors right into a fund inside 1789 Capital called called EIG, or entrepreneurship, innovation and growth.
Masters is listed on 1789 Capital’s website as a member of their board of advisors.
Mercer has a history of backing conservative causes. She and members of the Mercer family previously helped finance Breitbart.
Rebekah Mercer was also an investor into Parler, a social media platform intended to appeal to conservatives that was later shutdown after being sold. A spokeswoman for Mercer didn’t return a request for comment.
The Mercer family supported candidate Donald Trump through the 2016 election. Rebekah’s father, Robert, donated over just over $15 million toward an excellent PAC that first backed Sen. Ted Cruz’s failed campaign and later Trump.
Robert Mercer was also an investor within the now-defunct data company Cambridge Analytica, which was accused of harvesting voter Facebook data to back each Cruz and Trump at different points. The corporate denied those claims. Rebekah Mercer was on the corporate’s board.