FTX Sells Remaining Stake in Anthropic as Bankruptcy Costs Continue to Rise
The Block cited the latest bankruptcy filing documents from FTX, reporting that the bankrupt exchange has once again sold its remaining stake in AI startup Anthropic (the company behind the development of chatbot Claude).
The documents reveal that the exchange sold the remaining 15 million shares at approximately $30 per share, generating over $450 million in revenue. It is reported that this selling price is the same as the first sale in March, resulting in a realized profit of approximately $1.3 billion for FTX from its initial $500 million investment in the company, with a total net profit of around $800 million.
In this round, global venture capital fund G Squared was one of the main buyers, investing $135 million to acquire approximately one-third of the remaining shares, or 4.5 million shares. The remaining over 20 buyers were also mostly venture capital funds.
According to the latest documents from the bankruptcy restructuring, FTX’s legal and administrative costs for the bankruptcy have exceeded $500 million. In response, FTX’s creditors have complained that the law firm Sullivan and Cromwell, responsible for FTX’s bankruptcy, is also the firm that represented the company prior to the bankruptcy, potentially creating a conflict of interest. This issue has sparked controversies over the appointment of an independent examiner and collective lawsuits. Interim CEO of FTX, John Ray, is earning an hourly rate of $1,300, and based on this rate, John Ray has earned $5.6 million since the start of the case.
