Bankrupt cryptocurrency trading platform Futures Exchange (FTX), led by Chief Executive Officer (CEO) John Ray III, has sold out its final Anthropic shares for $450 million, liquidating its entire stake in Anthropic PBC, an Artificial Intelligence (AI) startup company based in the U.S.
According to reports from reputable sources, the collapsed exchange completed the sales of its 15 billion remaining shares at $30 per stake, the same price it sold the previous shares earlier in March.
The bankrupt FTX sold its remaining 15 million shares in the artificial intelligence startup Anthropic at $30 per share, netting more than $450 million. FTX initially invested $500 million in Anthropic, and now has a total gain of $1.3 billion. However, the legal and…
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Why Was the Sale Necessary?
FTX chose to sell its stake in Anthropic PBC due to increasing costs of legal services and the mounting need to REFUND creditors.
Following the bankruptcy challenge that has hit the company, considerable administrative and legal expenses, amounting to over $700 million, have accrued.
FTX fees have now officially crossed $700mm. pic.twitter.com/WTQKs0bgtv
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As part of its commitment to creditors and to dispel the accumulated expenses, the company proceeded with the sale after applying for and obtaining approval from the bankruptcy court.
Notably, the shares sales approval was granted by the Supreme Bankruptcy Court of the U.S. District Court for the District of Delaware following the company's sale application that lasted several weeks.
FTX Most Valuable Asset Yields Reasonable Profits
In the first sales round in March, the FTX exchange sold Anthropic shares worth about $884 million to some investment firms, including Jane Street and ATIC Third International Investment Company LLC.
In the second sell-off spree, G Squared, one of the top global capitalist companies, procured the most shares, which are about 4.5 million shares, estimated at around $135 million. The remaining stakes in the second sell-off involved mainly venture capital funds.
Remarkably, through two rounds of sales, including the just recently concluded one, the FTX exchange has generated a whopping $1.3 billion from this singular investment, resulting in a net profit of $800 million.
Unlike its recently concluded Solana (SOL) auction sales, FTX's most valued asset, the Anthropic share sale yielded a reasonable net profit, a welcome development for both creditors and the FTX estate as they seek means of navigating bankruptcy and refunding its creditors.
The Positive Side Moving Forward
Despite the considerable expenditure brought on by the bankruptcy, John Ray III remains committed to remunerating the exchange's customers.
No doubt, selling the company's Anthropic share was a definitive step in the right direction, paving the way for the company to push through its financial predicament and recover from bankruptcy.