Two investing heavyweights are teaming up to take the most innovative company in FinTwit public.
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
STAMFORD, CONN, April 1, 2022 -- Hedgeye Risk Management announced earlier today that following months of high-level talks, it has agreed to pursue a merger with Chamath Palihapitiya & Bill Ackman’s co-founded SPAC ‘Big Media Acquisition Corp.’ (NYSE: BMAC). The combined entity will finally enter the public markets, trading under the ticker NYSE: HEYE.
Under the terms of the deal, BMAC will inject $250 million into the combined entity and existing Hedgeye shareholders will retain a majority stake. The expected valuation is $1.4 billion based on Hedgeye’s 50%+ growth rate, predictable recurring revenue stream, and strong free cash flow generation.
“I’ve admired Hedgeye and its maverick Founder/CEO Keith McCullough from afar for many years,” said Palihapitiya. “Hedgeye has virtually everything I look for in a successful investment: deep moats, a large addressable market, proprietary technology, and proven leadership.”
Earlier this morning, Hedgeye Founder & CEO Keith McCullough was joined by Bill Ackman on CNBC to discuss the merger.
McCullough explained what inspired him to join forces with Chamath:
“Despite some profound differences, I’ve admired Chamath for some time. When he posted that shirtless Twitter pic, I knew he embodied Hedgeye’s ethos: ‘Transparency’. That’s why when Chamath first approached me about the merger and explained he was in desperate need of Quads, I knew we’d be able to help. Fortunately, he was willing to look past our analyst Emily Evans’ big short call on Clover Health (NASDAQ: CLOV) over a year ago; he let me know it was now officially ‘Below his line.’” |
On CNBC, Ackman described the nightmares he experienced prior to closing the deal:
“In January 2022, I had really scary nightmares about this deal not getting done. Everyone seemed to think I was crazy for working with Keith and Chamath… but I’m not having those nightmares anymore. I’m confident in Keith and my Ambien, both help me sleep soundly at night. Who knows? I may even return to activist short selling.” |
As part of the deal, Keith, Bill, and Chamath have agreed to appear on HedgeyeTV once a week to update retail investors on HEYE. CNBC has agreed to sponsor the new show, tentatively called: “The Weekly Pump.”
In related news, Hedgeye intends to use the influx of capital to purchase a stake in Dogecoin, adding over $50 million to their balance sheet.
Hedgeye CFO Todd Jordan had this to say about the purchase:
“Dogecoin is the future of money... It’s the best store of value I’ve seen since the Roman Denarius. We want to turn Hedgeye into the ‘MicroStrategy of Dogecoin.’” |
*NYSE: BMAC jumped +78% on the news, as investors await the most ‘hyped’ SPAC of the year.