FTX suspends $500M sale of stake in AI firm Anthropic: Report
The sale of FTX's $500 million stake in artificial intelligence startup Anthropic has reportedly been put on hold, adding a potential delay to the bankrupt crypto exchange's efforts to fill a $2 billion remaining hole in its balance sheet.
On June 27, Bloomberg reported — citing people familiar with the matter — FTX’s advisory investment bank Parella Weinberg Partners paused the sale of FTX’s Anthropic stake this month, despite multiple parties being interested in buying up FTX's stake.
A sale of the stake would be a significant monetary recovery for FTX. A June 26 report by FTX restructuring chief John Ray alleged $8.7 billion in user funds were misappropriated, around $7 billion of which has been recovered.
FTX pauses Anthropic sale. Wise move.Selling losers first is crucial.Anthropic tokenisation might also synergise well with FTX 2.0, as an exclusive listing. pic.twitter.com/WJd900JBYw
Prior to the pause, multiple buyers were reportedly interested in FTX’s slice of Anthropic. In early June, Semafor reported FTX was pitching the AI firm to potential investors.
FTX held $500 million worth of Anthropic stock at the time of its bankruptcy in November 2022 which is now expected to be worth much more with the AI boom in full swing.
On May 23, Anthropic hit a reported valuation of $4.6 billion and raised $450 million in its latest funding round. Anthropic offers an AI chatbot dubbed “Claude” which it claims can be deployed for a number of uses including sales, customer service and web searches.
At the time of its bankruptcy, FTX’s stake in the AI firm was one of its largest holdings behind its reported $1.15 billion investment in crypto miner Genesis Digital Assets.
Related: SBF’s arguments to dismiss criminal charges ‘moot
Read more on cointelegraph.com
