Costs for FTX tokens, often called FTTs, received an surprising jolt earlier this month. Six months after FTX collapsed, the crypto trade platform’s legal professionals steered that it might stage a comeback. However the odds of a revival for a failed firm working with an unchanged enterprise mannequin and a infamous identify are slim.
Slim-chance comebacks occur generally. Consider the revival of Apple underneath Steve Jobs, IBM’s restoration following heavy losses within the early Nineties and carmaker GM’s post-bailout fortunes. For tarnished corporations similar to FTX, MoviePass, WeWork or SVB Capital these case research supply a glimmer of hope.
Greater than $7bn has been recovered in money, tokens and different property at FTX. Collectors might, in idea, select to restart the enterprise.
However chief government John Ray, employed to information it via chapter, has spent months highlighting its failures and people of founder Sam Bankman-Fried, who faces quite a few legal prices. Confidence in crypto has evaporated. It stays onerous to insure in opposition to failures within the sector. Demand for FTX providers could be low.
MoviePass additionally lacks the goodwill mandatory to show its fortunes spherical. It has emerged from Chapter 11 chapter with a brand new cinema subscription concept. However the spectacular failure of its first plan means it’s unlikely to signal the kind of enticing offers with cinema chains wanted to generate earnings.
Workplace rental start-up WeWork managed to go public through a particular function acquisition firm following its failed preliminary public providing and the dramatic exit of its founder. But even after occupancy ranges improved, its enterprise continues to burn money. Money and money equivalents fell from about $1bn to lower than $300mn final 12 months.
SVB Capital, the enterprise capital arm of Silicon Valley Financial institution is up on the market, and would possibly do higher. Although it reported a pre-tax lack of $180mn final 12 months, it owns stakes in a few of tech’s best-known enterprise capital corporations.
For FTX, hope and case research wouldn’t be sufficient. It wants a reworked marketing strategy and rebranding. Even a brazen reboot can’t succeed underneath FTX’s tarnished identify.
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