Bankman-Fried’s FTX says there are no talks to buy Robinhood

June 27 (Reuters) – Sam Bankman-Fried’s FTX cryptocurrency says it is not in talks to buy Robinhood Markets Inc. (HOOD.O)then report on Monday, the stock exchange claimed to be investigating such a deal.

On Monday, Bloomberg News reported that the FTX was internally discussing how to buy a software-based broker, and Robinhood did not take an official seizure approach, citing people who knew the issue.

“There are no active M&A negotiations with Robinhood,” Bankman-Fried said in an email. “We are excited about Robinhood’s business prospects and the potential ways we can work with them.”

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Robinhood declined to comment. Shares of the retail trading platform fell 5% in expanded trading after rising above 14% in the report.

Last month, FTX founder and CEO Robinhood announced a 7.6% stake in the company, but said it had no plans to take control of the retail platform.

Robinhood’s dual-tier shares allow its founders to control 64% of the voting shares outstanding, making it virtually impossible to make purchases without their support. read more

The popular trading platform has come under pressure this year as trading volumes slowed to a frantic pace in 2021 – when retailers used it to inject money into stock stocks such as GameStop. (GME.N) and AMC Entertainment (AMC.N).

The slowdown, combined with the sale of high-tech stocks, led to Robinhood shares falling about 50 percent this year. The company had a market value of about $ 7 billion at closing price on Friday.

The US arm of the FTC announced in May that it would launch a stock trading platform in late summer. Last week, it acquired Embedded Financial Technologies, a partner for an undisclosed amount, which will add storage, execution and clearing services to the stock trading platform.

FTX and its billionaire founder Bankman-Fried saved other players during the recent collapse of the crypto market. It has provided cryptocurrency lender BlockFi with $ 250 million in revolving credit to prevent a liquidity crisis.