FTX estate plans to sell $884M stake in AI firm Anthropic

The estate of the bankrupt crypto exchange FTX has announced plans to sell about two-thirds of its 8% stake in the artificial intelligence startup Anthropic in deals totaling $884 million. 

According to a report by the Wall Street Journal on Monday, ATIC Third International Investment Company LLC, linked to the United Arab Emirates’ sovereign wealth fund Mubadala, is set to purchase approximately $500 million of FTX’s shares in Anthropic. The transaction also involves buyers like Jane Street, several funds managed by Fidelity Management and Research, venture capital firm HOF Capital, and 20 other investors, as per an agreement dated March 22.

FTX’s investment in Anthropic, amounting to $500 million in 2021, came a year before the exchange declared bankruptcy amidst fraud allegations. Anthropic is considered one of FTX estate’s most valuable assets. Officials from the company have indicated that FTX creditors are likely to be fully compensated.

For several months, the bankruptcy estate has been attempting to sell its stake in Anthropic in an effort to reimburse clients affected by the downfall of FTX in late 2022. Over the recent years, Anthropic has secured $7 billion from major technology firms, including Amazon and Alphabet. At the same time, its competitor, OpenAI, saw its market value soar to $80 billion, tripling in less than a year.

Under the leadership of the new CEO, John Ray III, FTX has been actively recovering funds, high-end real estate, and cryptocurrency, in addition to seeking out assets that were previously unaccounted for. The team has successfully retrieved over $7 billion to date. This figure doesn’t include expensive gifts and real estate worth $26 million given to the parents of Bankman-Fried or the $700 million transferred to K5 Global and its founder, Michael Kives. Kives had invested FTX’s funds in several companies, including SpaceX, some of which have significantly increased in value.