FTX investor Sequoia removed its glowing 13,000-word profile of Sam Bankman-Fried and replaced it with somber note after its investment cratered to $0
Sequoia said it was marking down its investment in Sam Bankman-Fried's cryptocurrency platform FTX from $214 million to $0 in a letter to investors.
Sequoia Capital
- VC firm Sequoia Capital removed a lengthy September profile of FTX founder Sam Bankman-Fried this week.
- The URL now shows Sequoia's note telling investors it's marking down its $214 million FTX investment to $0.
- The profile of Bankman-Fried recounted his first pitch to Sequoia during his Series B round.
Sequoia Capital removed its glowing profile of FTX founder Sam Bankman-Fried that was making the rounds online this week and replaced it with a somber update about its investment in the company, which has cratered and resulted in a complete write-off for the VC firm.
The VC firm self-published the profile of 30-year-old Bankman-Fried in September, chronicling his ascent to a net worth of $24 billion and crypto tycoon status, writing that he "himself has amassed more wealth in a shorter period of time than anyone else, ever."
However, the 13,000-word profile was no longer available on Sequoia's website on Thursday as Bankman-Fried and FTX are reportedly scrambling to raise around $8 billion from investors to save the company for bankruptcy.
In its place, Sequoia posted an update dated November 9, 2022, where it says, "A liquidity crunch has created solvency risk for FTX and its future is uncertain."
The update says "many" have also been affected by the "unexpected" crunch, but that the VC firm's fiduciary responsibility is to its LPs. Sequoia linked to its letter about marking down its investment in FTX from around $214 million to $0.
"For FTX, we believe its fiduciary responsibility is first to its customers, and second to its shareholders," the update says. "As such, FTX is exploring all opportunities to ensure its customers are able to recover their funds as quickly as possible."
A spokesperson for Sequoia did not respond to Insider's request for comment ahead of publication.
The profile, which had an estimated read time of over an hour, covered the founder's story, from learning to trade in New York's financial district trading shop, Jane Street, to the founding of his trading company Alameda Research and subsequent founding of cryptocurrency platform FTX.
Bankman-Fried's utilitarian upbringing and meeting with Will MacAskill, one of the founders of the effective altruism movement, are highlighted in the article to explain his decision-making and reputation for donating to charity.
Bankman-Fried's first pitch meeting with the VC firm's partners during its Series B round is also included in the profile, in which the founder laid out his vision to investors for FTX to become a super-app — all while he was playing the video game "League of Legends" on his computer.
"We were incredibly impressed," Michelle Bailhe, a partner at Sequoia who set up the meeting, recounted in the article. "It was one of those your-hair-is-blown-back type of meetings."
The now-removed Sequoia profile is still available to read on the Internet Archive's Wayback Machine.