Robinhood BoD Approves Buyback of $578M Stake Bought by SBF’s Emergent Fidelity

The Robinhood Market (RM) board of directors have reportedly approved to buy the $575 million worth of its shares back from Emergent Fidelity Technologies (EFT). EFT is a holding company that is controlled by FTX’s Sam Bankman-Fried (SBF) and Gary Wang.

Breaking the news, CertiK Alert tweeted:

In 2022, SBF had bought 55 million (or 7.6%) Robinhood Market shares via Emergent Fidelity Technologies. But after FTX’s collapse in November, the said shares’ ownership began attracting attention and questions.

RM has reportedly been in talks with the U.S. Department of Justice (DoJ) for the said share buyback, as well. The DoJ had seized the 55 million Robinhood shares in January after BlockFi’s share reclaim court filing. Subsequently, Robinhood is also ready to buy its stock back from the DoJ at market price.

Reportedly in December, FTX requested the court to prevent BlockFi from claiming the Robinhood shares, after FTX’s bankruptcy.

Robinhood Market states, the proposed share purchase underscores the confidence the Board of Directors and management team have in our business.

Noting that Robinhood’s balance sheet has over $6 billion in cash, CEO Vlad Tenev reportedly said, we think this repurchase will be accretive over time and remove a distraction for shareholders.

Robinhood’s cryptocurrency transaction revenues via its Robinhood Web3 Wallet dropped 24% to $39 million in Q4 2022 against Q3. Its Q3 revenue dropped 12%, against Q2. Robinhood’s net revenues rose by 5% to $380 million in Q4 2022. The overall reported net loss of Robinhood stood over $1 billion in 2022.

Emergent Fidelity bought the said shares and then placed them as collateral for a BlockFi loan. FTX has also reportedly claimed the concerned Robinhood shares under its infamous bankruptcy process, so also has SBF in his legal procedure underway. Emergent Fidelity has not filed for bankruptcy yet, but reportedly has filed for bankruptcy protection.