Parler COO: Ye acquisition could go through before January

Ye could own Parler before the end of the year, according to Parler COO Josh Levine.

“This transaction will get closed very quickly,” Levine told Protocol on Wednesday. “There’s nothing to stand in the way of that except that, you know, we just [have] to go through the process of assuring it’s done correctly.”

Levine declined to provide information on the acquisition price or which banks are working on the transaction. He did, however, describe it as “the best possible outcome we could have had.” This acquisition deal is unlike the Musk-Twitter saga because it involves two friendly parties, and Parler is a private company, Levine said.

On Monday, Ye, formerly known as Kanye West, agreed to purchase Parler, the social media platform popular among conservatives and which launched in 2018. He had been attending fashion shows in Paris with conservative pundit Candace Owens, whose husband, George Farmer, is the CEO of Parler.

In an interview later that day, Ye said the Parler acquisition was motivated by his experience being “kicked off” Instagram and Twitter. Ye made anti-Semitic remarks on both platforms, prompting Twitter to lock his account and Instagram to delete his post and place other restrictions on his platform activity.

Ye has only doubled down on his anti-Semitic rhetoric in recent days. When asked whether any of Ye’s statements would or could lead to Parler backing out of the deal, Levine said he wouldn’t comment on anything Ye said in his personal life.

In the two days since the news of the acquisition broke, Parler has seen four times as many new users sign up as it did in the preceding month, Levine told Protocol. He also said the company wants to expand beyond politics by recruiting new users who are musicians, athletes, and comedians. Parler currently has around 70 employees, he said.

“That alignment with his brand and his brilliance in promotion and the people he can attract to this site are the perfect fit for us moving forward,” Levine said. Parler is working through the details of how the acquisition will affect its leadership team, according to Levine.