Following SpaceX's $60 billion valuation agreement to acquire Cursor, it has been revealed that FTX's bankruptcy estate sold a 5% stake in the AI coding startup for $200,000 in April 2023, a stake now worth around $3 billion. This development comes as SpaceX, led by Elon Musk, aims to close the gap with competitors in AI coding tools. The deal allows SpaceX to buy Cursor later this year or pay $10 billion if the acquisition does not proceed, with the $10 billion serving as a breakup fee due to SpaceX's planned initial public offering targeting a $2 trillion valuation.
The investment was initially made by Alameda Research, founded by Sam Bankman-Fried, in April 2022, buying roughly 5% of Anysphere, the company behind Cursor, for $200,000 at a $4 million valuation. After FTX's collapse and subsequent bankruptcy, the court-appointed estate sold the Cursor stake for the same $200,000, resulting in a significant missed recovery opportunity. This event has sparked debate, particularly from Bankman-Fried, who argues that the estate's rapid liquidation of assets destroyed billions in value, and that customers could have received more if assets had been held instead of sold.
The timing of this revelation is awkward for FTX's bankruptcy administration, with Bankman-Fried currently serving a 25-year federal sentence and advocating for a reevaluation of the case, citing the significant potential upside that could have been realized if assets like the Cursor stake had been retained.