Following SpaceX's recent agreement to acquire AI coding startup Cursor at a staggering $60 billion valuation, it has been revealed that a 5% stake in the company sold by FTX's bankruptcy estate in April 2023 for $200,000 would now be worth approximately $3 billion. This substantial increase in value underscores the significant missed recovery for FTX's creditors.
The deal is part of Elon Musk's strategy to enhance SpaceX's AI capabilities, particularly in the area of AI coding tools, where the company currently lags behind competitors like OpenAI and Anthropic. The acquisition is contingent upon SpaceX's planned initial public offering, which is targeting a $2 trillion valuation. In 2022, Alameda Research, a trading firm founded by Sam Bankman-Fried, invested $200,000 in Anysphere, the company behind Cursor, acquiring a 5% stake at a $4 million valuation.
However, after FTX's collapse, the court-appointed estate sold the stake for the same $200,000, resulting in a significant loss of potential value for the creditors. This oversight has sparked controversy, with Bankman-Fried arguing that the estate's rapid liquidation of assets destroyed billions of dollars in value, and that a more patient approach could have resulted in customers receiving greater compensation.
The case of the Cursor stake, which has increased in value by a factor of 15,000, serves as a prime example of the potential value that could have been realized. Despite FTX customers being reimbursed in full, they did not benefit from the substantial upside of the assets sold during the bankruptcy proceedings, including the Cursor stake, which could have provided an additional $3 billion in recovery.