According to a report by Reuters, US Judge John Dorsey approved FTX’s proposal to sell shares of the artificial intelligence startup, Anthropic, in the bankruptcy court in Delaware, following a compromise with the opposing creditors.
FTX had invested $500 million in Anthropic in 2021, and according to court documents, currently holds a 7.84% stake in the company. FTX sought permission from the court to sell these shares as part of the asset liquidation under court supervision, to repay its creditors. Given the increasing interest in AI and large-scale language models, the value of Anthropic’s shares has significantly appreciated since the debtor acquired and invested in the company in 2021, with the potential to generate several times the profit.
FTX’s lawyer, Andy Dietderich, stated during Thursday’s court hearing:
Previously, some FTX clients opposed the proposal to sell Anthropic shares, arguing that FTX does not actually own the shares since they were purchased using funds misappropriated from FTX client deposits. However, the creditors agreed on Thursday to allow the sale to proceed, with the condition that the right to claim the future proceeds of the sale is reserved for FTX clients.
In response, Andy Dietderich stated that FTX intends to use the sales proceeds to repay its clients, and FTX currently has $6.4 billion in cash. FTX expects to fully repay all clients (though the value of user claims will be calculated based on cryptocurrency prices at the time of the bankruptcy filing in November 2022).
