Online video-sharing platform Rumble has named Maurice Edelson as general counsel, filling the seat left empty by Michael Ellis, who left the business last year to become deputy director of the CIA.
Edelson joins from The Kovner Foundation, where he is currently CEO. The Rumble role marks a return to in-house lawyering, most recently leading professional wrestling promoter WWE’s legal function until his departure in 2024.
He brings more than 25 years of legal, strategic and business experience across the media and entertainment industries. At Rumble, he will oversee all legal matters.
Rumble was founded in Canada and has its US headquarters in Longboat Key in Florida. In addition to its video-sharing business, it also provides web hosting and cloud services, with customers including US President Donald Trump’s Truth Social platform.
Chris Pavlovski, Rumble founder and CEO, said: “Maurice Edelson has a unique combination of professional experiences, spanning industries related to Rumble and our mission. Bringing him on board reinforces our commitment to creative freedom, as we are always defending the right to free expression and a decentralised internet. We can’t wait to work with Maurice to keep cementing Rumble as the destination for creators, and to continue to grow out our tech and cloud business.”
Before his time at WWE, Edelson spent seven years as GC at private performing arts school The Juilliard School. He was also previously deputy GC at Time Warner following 15 years at Time Inc, including six years as GC.
Prior to that he was corporate counsel at Viacom and started his legal career in private practice at Cravath Swaine & Moore.
He said: “I eagerly look forward to helping to advance Rumble’s mission and business. There is no more important work than supporting creativity, freedom of expression and access to the technology that enables it.”
Ellis, meanwhile, left Rumble in February last year to join the CIA, where in addition to being appointed deputy director, he is also the agency’s GC. He joined Rumble in 2021, prior to which he worked in a number of government legal roles, including as senior associate counsel to the president during Trump’s first term.
Back in January, Meta hired C.J. Mahoney as chief legal officer from Microsoft. Mahoney previously served as deputy US trade representative in the Executive Office of the President in Trump’s first administration.
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