FTX Bankruptcy Estate To Sell Majority Stake in Anthropic for $884 Million
The FTX bankruptcy estate has reached an agreement to sell the majority of its shares in Anthropic. The sale is to a group of 24 institutional investors for a total of $884 million.
The sale marks a significant step forward in FTX’s efforts to repay its customers, who lost funds when the cryptocurrency exchange collapsed in November 2022.
Key points:
- The popularity of ChatGPT has fueled an AI boom that has more than doubled the value of FTX’s $500 million stake in Anthropic.
- Abu Dhabi’s sovereign wealth fund, Mubadala, owns ATIC Third International Investment Company, the top buyer.
- Other buyers include Jane Street Global Trading, funds tied to Fidelity Investments, and the Ford Foundation.
- The profitable sale stands in stark contrast to the firesale of other FTX assets, like LedgerX, which sold for $50 million after a $298 million purchase in 2021.
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According to court filings, ATIC Third International Investment Company has agreed to purchase 16,664,167 shares of Anthropic from FTX for $500 million. Also, this makes it the largest purchaser in the deal.
Mubadala, Abu Dhabi’s sovereign wealth fund, owns all of ATIC. Jane Street Global Trading, an affiliate of former FTX CEO Sam Bankman-Fried’s erstwhile employer, will buy nearly $100 million worth of shares. Additionally, certain funds tied to Fidelity Investments will acquire nearly 1.5 million shares for over $44 million.
AI boom boosted by FTX Anthropic holding
The sale of the Anthropic shares represents a major victory for the FTX estate, which pledged in January to pay back the defunct exchange’s customers 100% of the value of their holdings. The subsequent AI boom, driven by the soaring popularity of ChatGPT, has caused the value of FTX’s 8% stake in Anthropic, purchased for $500 million in 2021, to almost double.
In February, a New York bankruptcy judge granted the estate permission to sell the shares. This follows an earlier unsuccessful attempt to sell them in June 2023. The profitable sale stands in stark contrast to the firesale of other FTX assets. This also includes the LedgerX sale for $50 million in 2023.
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The court documents filed on March 22 require the filing of objections to the sales by April 1. FTX debtors previously stated that they planned to sell “all or portions of Anthropic Shares at different times and by different means” to help monetize their interest at optimal times.
