Robinhood, the brokerage firm popular with individual investors, announced on Friday that it has completed the acquisition of 55.3 million shares of its own shares from the US government for $605.7 million.
The shares in question were previously owned by Emergent Fidelity Technologies, which was founded by former FTX CEO Sam Bankman-Fried, which filed for bankruptcy protection last year.
The U.S. Department of Justice seized Emergent's shares in January after Bankman-Fried tried to hide the shares from creditors in court filings. Bankman-Fried had claimed that he needed the funds to finance his legal defense as he faces multiple lawsuits and investigations related to his involvement in cryptocurrency exchange FTX, which collapsed in 2022.
Robinhood expressed interest in repurchasing the shares in February and said the board had authorized it to buy most or all of the shares. The sale of the shares for $10.96 each was approved Friday by the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York.
“We are pleased to complete the acquisition of these shares and look forward to executing on our growth plans on behalf of our customers and shareholders,” Robinhood Markets Chief Financial Officer Jason Warnick said in a statement.
Robinhood shares are trading 3% higher as of this writing following news of the share repurchase agreement.
*This is not investment advice.
Wow fantastic!