(Jacob Bruns, Headline USA) Former Fox News host Tucker Carlson and Daily Caller co-founder Neil Patel have raised an initial $15 million investment toward a new alternative media venture together.
Carlson and Patel are leveraging their respective massive audiences and personal celebrity, led by the conservative leaning organization 1789 Capital, the Wall Street Journal reported.
The media company will reportedly be driven by subscriptions, but it also will offer free video content, primarily via Twitter.
The company is registered in the state of Nevada, under the name Last Country, Inc.
Carlson, Fox’s most-watched personality, was ousted by the network on April 24 following the controversial $787 million settlement in a lawsuit involving Dominion Voting Systems. However, the reasons behind the shocking exit remain unclear. Fox has repeatedly called allegations that the exit was in part of the settlement “categorically false.”
The venture, which is relatively undefined so far, will almost surely be scrutinized by Carlson’s former employer, which has gone out of its way to threaten him at every turn since he was taken off the air.
But it appears that Carlson is confident in his ability to pull it off, as he has spent the past several months courting potential donors.
The lead financer, 1789 Capital, was launched in 2021 by Omeed Malik, who prior to that was a self-described “run-of-the-mill corporate Democrat.”
Malik, however, came to see the tyranny of the health regime throughout the COVID lockdowns and the riots during the summer of 2020.
According to the donor, conservative media has failed because companies have been unable to secure continued financing so far.
“What has happened up to now is you’ve had some rich benefactor, who is ideological, put a company in business, but then there is no institutional support to continue to finance that business,” Malik said.
“Silicon Valley venture firms operate with that level of sophistication but typically don’t want to be affiliated with conservative companies,” he said.
Further, Malik has experience working with the pair, having helped fund Patel’s Daily Caller.
