Paradium.AI Stock Soars on $1 Billion Roundtable Deal

Paradium.AI Inc (NYSE:PAAI) shares are surging Thursday after RTB Digital Inc (NASDAQ:RTB) locked in a 10-year, $1 billion deal to move Paradium’s media portfolio onto Roundtable’s AI/DeFi-powered MediaOS. Here’s what you should know. Paradium.AI stock is among today’s strongest performers. What’s driving PAAI shares higher? Roundtable Absorbs Paradium’s Media Empire Roundtable CEO James Heckman revealed that Paradium, the company formerly known as The Arena Group, will hand its entire premium media lineup over to Roundtable’s platform. Nearly two dozen brands and close to 100 million consumers make the jump, among them TheStreet, Parade, Men’s Journal, Athlon Sports, Autoblog and Powder, plus hundreds of reporters currently on staff. Roundtable projects the arrangement will pull in $100 million a year in revenue and push the company to an EBITDA-positive run rate on its own, once the ink dries and 100 million monthly users start flowing through the system. Founders Reunite After a Six-Year Gap The agreement puts Paradium CEO Paul Edmondson back in business with Roundtable co-founders Heckman and Bill Sornsin, a trio that last worked side by side in 2020. Both sides expect the combined platform and shared distribution network to accelerate growth while slashing tens of millions of dollars in overlapping costs. Heckman called the deal the culmination of decades spent building toward this kind of scale, arguing it gives premium publishers and advertisers an environment they can trust. Sornsin said publishers have spent years losing ground on economics, data and audience control to big tech and now to AI, and he added that this partnership hands that control back. A separate minority stake ties the whole arrangement together. Roundtable will pay $89 million in cash and stock to take roughly 49% ownership of Paradium in a private transaction. That piece, along with remaining closing conditions and funding requirements, is set to wrap up in the fourth quarter. PAAI Shares Are Soaring PAAI Price Action: Paradium.AI shares were up 271.15% at $0.91 at the time of publication on Thursday, according to Benzinga Pro. Read Also: Stock Market Today: S&P 500, Dow, Nasdaq 100 Futures Gain Despite 25 Bps Fed Rate Hike— SNAP, LEN, GNRC in Focus (UPDATED) Image: Shutterstock