Taylor Swift and Sam Bankman- Fried were in the final stages of arranging a sponsorship agreement worth more than $100 million, but the negotiations dissolved only months before the exchange's demise in November, according to a report by the Financial Times.
The negotiation reportedly involved a ticketing deal with NFTs. But now, the dissolved agreement has raised questions about whether the company could have saved itself if one of the world's biggest pop stars had struck the deal.
LOS ANGELES, CALIFORNIA - NOVEMBER 20: Taylor Swift, winner of the Artist of the Year award; Favorite Female Pop Artist award; Favorite Female Country Artist award; Favorite Pop Album award for ‘Red (Taylor’s Version)’; Favorite Music Video award for ‘All Too Well: The Short Film’; and Favorite Country Album award for ‘Red (Taylor’s Version),’ poses in the press room during the 2022 American Music Awards at Microsoft Theater on November 20, 2022 in Los Angeles, California.
The massive payment being negotiated and FTX's discussions with Swift show how ambitious and far-reaching the crypto firm was in its pursuit of celebrity endorsements before it went bankrupt.
Supermodel Gisele Bündchen, tennis pro star Naomi Osaka, basketball players Shaquille O'Neal and Steph Curry, as well as American football ace Tom Brady and Naomi Osaka, have all signed endorsement deals with FTX, as per Financial Times.
Why the Negotiations Did Not Succeed
Sources with insider knowledge of the negotiations told Financial Times that the process also revealed FTX's unconventional internal decision-making and conflicts between its former CEO's top executives.
Bankman-Fried initially supported the transaction because he is a huge fan of the "Anti-Hero" singer and songwriter. Former workers believed Claire Watanabe, a senior executive in FTX's business development division, superseded the company's pursuit of Swift since she loves Swift's music as well.
However, not everyone was on board with the plan. Employees said that those who opposed argued that the pop star would be too expensive to have a partnership with and questioned whether earlier celebrity deals generated enough revenues for the company.
Senior executives include FTX US President Brett Harrison, who joined FTX after more than ten years at financial institutions like Jane Street and Citadel, and US General Counsel Ryne Miller, a former partner at Sullivan & Cromwell, reportedly persuaded Bankman-Fried to end the negotiations.
The discontinuation of the negotiations eventually did not see Swift's involvement with the crypto company come to fruition. The exchange filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy last month.
Fraud Allegations
Bankman-Fried is currently under investigation, and if found guilty of allegations of fraud, he could face several years behind bars, according to some legal experts.
Experts also expect that the investigation could take months or even years because they still need to gather all the needed evidence for the case.
Customer cash worth at least $8 billion was purportedly missing at the time of the bankruptcy. Sam's hedge fund, aside from FTX, was also reported missing after the $1 billion crash.
The former CEO said in a recent interview that he did not commit fraud on anyone and was completely taken aback by the crash since he saw his crypto exchange as a "thriving business."
Bankman denied all fraud allegations and said he had a "bad month."
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