FTX estate selling majority stake in AI startup Anthropic for $884 million, with bulk going to UAE

Bankrupt crypto exchange FTX has struck a deal with a consortium of buyers to sell the majority of its stake in artificial intelligence startup Anthropic for $884 million, according to a filing submitted late Friday to a Delaware court.

The document, dated March 22, lists a mix of buyers, with the largest stake going to ATIC Third International Investment Co., an enterprise aligned with Mubadala, a sovereign wealth fund in the United Arab Emirates. That group is purchasing nearly $500 million worth of Anthropic shares.

Multiple sovereign wealth funds were reportedly clamoring for a piece of FTX's Anthropic stake. Sources told CNBC on Friday that Saudi Arabia was specifically ruled out over national security concerns. The kingdom has been sinking billions of dollars into tech investment funds to try to capture talent from the UAE and to diversify away from oil. 

The second-biggest buyer in the Anthropic transaction is Jane Street, the quantitative trading firm where FTX founder Sam Bankman-Fried worked before venturing out on his own. Caroline Ellison, the ex-CEO of FTX's sister hedge fund Alameda Research, also previously worked at Jane Street. The firm is purchasing shares worth almost $100 million.

Jane Street's head of quantitative research, Craig Falls, has also proposed to personally buy around $20 million worth of shares.

Venture fund HOF Capital, the Ford Foundation and funds managed by Fidelity Management are others on the list of nearly two dozen buyers.

The sales are not yet final and must be cleared by Judge John Dorsey, who is overseeing FTX's bankruptcy case in Delaware. Should it be approved, the sale would collectively account for nearly two-thirds of FTX's shares in Anthropic.

In November, Bankman-Fried was