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FTX Made a Very Smart Investment That May Be Able to Pay Back Its Customers

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There could be a bright spot on the FTX balance sheet after all!

SAIm I Am

Though disgraced former FTX CEO Sam Bankman-Fried generally didn’t exactly handle his customers’ money well — or, according to some former coworkers, legally — there may actually be one very bright spot on the defunct crypto exchange’s balance sheet: a massive investment into a buzzy AI startup which, according to new reporting from Semafor, may ultimately spell good news for former FTX customers.

Per Semafor, FTX appears to have made a $500 million dollar investment into Anthropic, an OpenAI rival that made waves back in January when its model was reported to have passed a blindly-graded George Mason University law and economics exam with flying colors (a claim, it’s worth noting, that was made weeks before the OpenAI-built GPT-4’s test-taking prowess was publicly known.)

And FTX isn’t the only high-profile Anthropic investor. Seemingly in a move to level the playing field in its battle with the financially tethered Microsoft and OpenAI, a little company known as Google, among other investors, invested $300 million into the AI firm back in February.

As a result of those cash infusions, in addition to the buzz around the AI market, Anthropic’s stock has been headed way up. As it stands, the AI firm is reportedly valued at a staggering $4.6 billion – and per Semafor, FTX’s major stake in the high-dollar firm could ultimately provide bankruptcy trustees with a way to pay FTX’s slighted customers back.

Uncertainty

But that said, as Semafor points out, it might not be that simple.

When more traditional companies, which tend to have more traditional-slash-real assets — real estate, bonds, and more of the like — go bankrupt, there’s a fairly standardized, precedented rulebook for bankruptcy proceedings. Those proceedings often include some kind of “prepackaged” bankruptcy strategy designed to eke as much worth out of an asset’s value as possible while also attempting to make customers whole.

FTX, alternatively, as an unregulated business within an unregulated industry, reportedly didn’t have any such plan, and its assets are generally pretty far from traditional. And to that end, it’s also worth noting that the AI industry is still at the beginning of a gold rush. Anthropic has a stronger footing in the market than most, but whether it can stick it out with a multi-billion dollar valuation in the long run remains to be seen.

Still, FTX customers haven’t had good news in a while — and maybe, just this one time, a Bankman-Fried financial decision could actually pay off for them. Or at the very least, pay them back.

 

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Tesla shares soar more than 14% as Trump win is seen boosting Elon Musk’s electric vehicle company

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NEW YORK (AP) — Shares of Tesla soared Wednesday as investors bet that the electric vehicle maker and its CEO Elon Musk will benefit from Donald Trump’s return to the White House.

Tesla stands to make significant gains under a Trump administration with the threat of diminished subsidies for alternative energy and electric vehicles doing the most harm to smaller competitors. Trump’s plans for extensive tariffs on Chinese imports make it less likely that Chinese EVs will be sold in bulk in the U.S. anytime soon.

“Tesla has the scale and scope that is unmatched,” said Wedbush analyst Dan Ives, in a note to investors. “This dynamic could give Musk and Tesla a clear competitive advantage in a non-EV subsidy environment, coupled by likely higher China tariffs that would continue to push away cheaper Chinese EV players.”

Tesla shares jumped 14.8% Wednesday while shares of rival electric vehicle makers tumbled. Nio, based in Shanghai, fell 5.3%. Shares of electric truck maker Rivian dropped 8.3% and Lucid Group fell 5.3%.

Tesla dominates sales of electric vehicles in the U.S, with 48.9% in market share through the middle of 2024, according to the U.S. Energy Information Administration.

Subsidies for clean energy are part of the Inflation Reduction Act, signed into law by President Joe Biden in 2022. It included tax credits for manufacturing, along with tax credits for consumers of electric vehicles.

Musk was one of Trump’s biggest donors, spending at least $119 million mobilizing Trump’s supporters to back the Republican nominee. He also pledged to give away $1 million a day to voters signing a petition for his political action committee.

In some ways, it has been a rocky year for Tesla, with sales and profit declining through the first half of the year. Profit did rise 17.3% in the third quarter.

The U.S. opened an investigation into the company’s “Full Self-Driving” system after reports of crashes in low-visibility conditions, including one that killed a pedestrian. The investigation covers roughly 2.4 million Teslas from the 2016 through 2024 model years.

And investors sent company shares tumbling last month after Tesla unveiled its long-awaited robotaxi at a Hollywood studio Thursday night, seeing not much progress at Tesla on autonomous vehicles while other companies have been making notable progress.

Tesla began selling the software, which is called “Full Self-Driving,” nine years ago. But there are doubts about its reliability.

The stock is now showing a 16.1% gain for the year after rising the past two days.

The Canadian Press. All rights reserved.

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S&P/TSX composite up more than 100 points, U.S. stock markets mixed

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TORONTO – Canada’s main stock index was up more than 100 points in late-morning trading, helped by strength in base metal and utility stocks, while U.S. stock markets were mixed.

The S&P/TSX composite index was up 103.40 points at 24,542.48.

In New York, the Dow Jones industrial average was up 192.31 points at 42,932.73. The S&P 500 index was up 7.14 points at 5,822.40, while the Nasdaq composite was down 9.03 points at 18,306.56.

The Canadian dollar traded for 72.61 cents US compared with 72.44 cents US on Tuesday.

The November crude oil contract was down 71 cents at US$69.87 per barrel and the November natural gas contract was down eight cents at US$2.42 per mmBTU.

The December gold contract was up US$7.20 at US$2,686.10 an ounce and the December copper contract was up a penny at US$4.35 a pound.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published Oct. 16, 2024.

Companies in this story: (TSX:GSPTSE, TSX:CADUSD)

The Canadian Press. All rights reserved.

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S&P/TSX up more than 200 points, U.S. markets also higher

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TORONTO – Canada’s main stock index was up more than 200 points in late-morning trading, while U.S. stock markets were also headed higher.

The S&P/TSX composite index was up 205.86 points at 24,508.12.

In New York, the Dow Jones industrial average was up 336.62 points at 42,790.74. The S&P 500 index was up 34.19 points at 5,814.24, while the Nasdaq composite was up 60.27 points at 18.342.32.

The Canadian dollar traded for 72.61 cents US compared with 72.71 cents US on Thursday.

The November crude oil contract was down 15 cents at US$75.70 per barrel and the November natural gas contract was down two cents at US$2.65 per mmBTU.

The December gold contract was down US$29.60 at US$2,668.90 an ounce and the December copper contract was up four cents at US$4.47 a pound.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published Oct. 11, 2024.

Companies in this story: (TSX:GSPTSE, TSX:CADUSD)

The Canadian Press. All rights reserved.

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