FTX Estate's Anthropic Stake Sale Left Tens of Billions on Table

Anthropic's registration statement, filed on Oct. 26, shows that the block of stock the FTX bankruptcy estate sold off in 2024 now totals 445.4 million shares, or roughly 2.5% of the AI developer on a fully diluted basis, TradingView reported, citing data from SBF Index.

The estate collected about $1.334 billion for the position across two 2024 transactions that brought in roughly $884 million and $450 million. At the pre-IPO price of $105.71 a share, the same holding would be worth about $47.1 billion, and close to $50.1 billion if Anthropic prices at a reported $2 trillion valuation, before accounting for dilution from the offering itself.

FTX built the position with a $500 million purchase in 2022, when Anthropic carried a $2.5 billion valuation, giving the exchange about 8% of the maker of the Claude models. The estate unwound the holding to raise cash for creditors after FTX failed.

Anthropic is seeking a Nasdaq listing under the symbol ANT, with a target valuation of $1.5 trillion to $2 trillion, according to the report. Its valuation reportedly reached $965 billion in May.

Sam Bankman-Fried, the exchange's co-founder and former chief executive, was convicted on fraud and conspiracy charges in 2023 and is serving a 25-year sentence. He asked for a new trial in February, claiming the Justice Department pressured defense witnesses into silence.

This story was first reported by TradingView.