Sam Bankman-Fried Acquires a $650 Million Stake in Robinhood

The millionaire founder and CEO of cryptocurrency exchange FTX, Sam Bankman-Fried, has purchased a 7.6 percent interest in Robinhood, a popular online brokerage. The market reacted positively to the news, with Robinhood’s (HOOD) stock price immediately rising by more than 30 percent in after-hours trading. The price has settled to a 24 percent overall gain at the time of writing. Bankman-Fried bought $648 million in Robinhood shares at an average price of $11.52, according to a securities filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission on Thursday. The purchases, according to Bankman-Fried, started in mid-March and continued until Wednesday. Bankman-Fried stated in the securities filing that he had “no intention of taking any action toward changing or influencing the control of [Robinhood]” and that he was merely looking for an “attractive investment.” “Of course, we think it is an attractive investment too,” Robinhood’s PR team tweeted to their 82,000 followers, echoing what Bankman-Fried claimed in his securities filing. Of course we think it is an attractive investment too. We have the best customer base, are introducing great new products, and we have the team to deliver. — Robinhood Comms (@RobinhoodComms) May 12, 2022 Bankman-fried is the only director and majority owner of Emergent Fidelity Technologies Ltd, an Antiguan company that handled the deal. After its stock price hit a new all-time low of $7.73 on March 12, ...