Sam Bankman-Fried is reportedly such a huge Taylor Swift fan that he pushed for FTX to sponsor her tour in a $100 million deal that almost happened
- Sam Bankman-Fried wanted his now-bankrupt cryptocurrency exchange to sponsor a Taylor Swift tour.
- FTX was close to negotiating an over $100 million deal, but talks between teams ended in the spring.
Sam Bankman-Fried is reportedly such a big Swiftie, he wanted his now-bankrupt cryptocurrency exchange, FTX, to sponsor a Taylor Swift tour for over $100 million.
FTX and Swift's team were close to finishing negotiations for the deal that started last fall, but ended talks in the spring, according to the Financial Times.
Part of the sponsorship deal included offering tickets as non-fungible tokens, or NFTs, from Swift, people familiar with the matter told the FT. They also said the negotiations showed the divide between Bankman-Fried's inner circle and other FTX executives.
Bankman-Fried did not immediately respond to a request for comment from Insider.
One employee told the FT Bankman-Fried wanted to make the deal because he's "a fan of Tay Tay," and had support from other executives and fellow Swift enthusiasts, including Claire Watanabe, a senior executive in FTX's business development team.
But some at the firm opposed the sponsorship because they thought it was too expensive and didn't believe Swift was a good fit to reach potential cryptocurrency traders, the FT reported. Others expressed hesitancy given a lack of lucrative returns from FTX partnerships with celebrities like Tom Brady, Gisele Bündchen, and Steph Curry — many of which are now being sued by investors in the aftermath of the company's downfall.
A former FTX employee told the FT the potential Swift deal also asked for a "light degree of endorsement" on social media, but another person close to that discussion confirmed with Insider that Swift never thought about doing an endorsement.
"Taylor would not, and did not, agree to an endorsement deal," the person told Insider. "The discussion was around a potential tour sponsorship that did not happen."
Employees on FTX's marketing team also opposed the sponsorship, with one person telling the FT that "no one really liked the deal" and they thought it was "too expensive from the beginning."
Brett Harrison and Ryne Miller, FTX's US president and general counsel, respectively, were among the senior executives who encouraged Bankman-Fried to halt talks for the sponsorship deal, according to the FT.
While scrapping the deal proved to be good karma for Swift, Bankman-Fried is continuing his run as the crypto-world's largest anti-hero at the moment.
Bankman-Fried's been on an apology tour since the collapse of FTX, explaining that he's more focused on helping the millions of customers and stakeholders who lost their money than he is about being held criminally liable. However, he may not be able to shake off the blame that easily — the company's Chapter 11 bankruptcy proceedings are set to continue later this month.