Following SpaceX's decision to acquire Cursor at a valuation of $60 billion, it has been revealed that a 5% stake in the company, sold by FTX's bankruptcy estate for $200,000 in April 2023, would now be worth approximately $3 billion. This substantial increase in value has brought attention to the estate's handling of assets during the bankruptcy process. SpaceX's acquisition is part of Elon Musk's strategy to enhance his company's AI coding capabilities, an area where he believes xAI, his AI company, is currently lagging behind competitors. The deal allows SpaceX to either purchase Cursor for $60 billion later this year or pay $10 billion if the acquisition does not proceed, with the latter serving as a breakup fee due to SpaceX's planned initial public offering, which aims for a $2 trillion valuation.
The investment in Cursor was initially made by Alameda Research, a trading firm founded by Sam Bankman-Fried, in April 2022, with a $200,000 investment for a roughly 5% stake in the company. After FTX's collapse, the court-appointed estate sold the stake for the same amount, resulting in a significant missed recovery opportunity for the estate's creditors. This event has been cited by Bankman-Fried as an example of the estate's alleged destruction of billions of dollars in value through the rapid liquidation of assets during the bankruptcy process. The case highlights the complexities and challenges of managing assets during bankruptcy proceedings and the potential long-term consequences of such decisions.