FTX CEO Sam Bankman-Fried denies having mergers and acquisitions conversations with Robinhood

Sam Bankman-Fried, chief executive at crypto exchange FTX, said the company is not having any active mergers and acquisitions conversations with Robinhood Markets
HOOD,
+14.00%Inc.,
after a Bloomberg article said FTX is exploring whether it may be able to acquire the digital trading platform.

“We are excited about Robinhood’s business prospects and potential ways we could partner with them, and I have always been impressed by the business that Vlad and his team have built,” Bankman-Fried wrote in an emailed statement to MarketWatch. “That being said there are no active M&A conversations with Robinhood.” Bankman-Fried wrote.

Bloomberg, citing people with knowledge of the matter, reported that FTX is having discussions internally on how to buy Robinhood, while the latter hasn’t received a formal takeover approach from FTX. Shares of Robinhood surged 14% Monday afternoon following the article.

“We believe that a potential deal would be good news for HOOD as it helps expand its reach and breadth,” analysts at Mizuho wrote in a Monday note. “We also believe that HOOD can survive, and thrive on its own.”

“It is important to note that the two founders of HOOD collectively own over 50% of the company and would need agreement to proceed further in any M&A process,” according to the Mizuho analysts.

Bankman-Fried recently injected funds into two crypto companies that have been under the spotlight, after crypto lender Celsius and hedge fund Three Arrows showed signs of trouble. 

Last week, Celsius’s rival BlockFi said it had received a $250 million revolving line of credit from FTX to help bolster its balance sheet. Crypto brokerage Voyager Digital said it has entered into a definitive agreement to raise a $200 million cash and USDC revolver and a 15,000 BTC revolver from Alameda Ventures, the venture capital arm of Bankman-Fried’s quantitative crypto trading firm Alameda research. 

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