Tom Farley, former president of the New York Stock Exchange, has announced that his company, Bullish, has acquired 100% of CoinDesk, a crypto-focused media company, for an undisclosed sum. This acquisition comes after a previous deal to acquire CoinDesk for $125 million in July fell through. CoinDesk was previously acquired in 2016 for $500,000.
The acquisition takes place at a time when Bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies are gaining momentum, following legal troubles faced by Sam Bankman-Fried and financial difficulties experienced by his company, FTX, over the past year.
Bullish, established in November 2021 and backed by investors such as Peter Thiel’s Founders Fund and hedge-fund manager Louis Bacon, had previously planned to go public with a $9 billion offering but canceled the plan. The company is now one of the bidders looking to acquire the remaining assets of FTX, with plans to potentially relaunch the FTX exchange as early as next year.
CoinDesk, which brought in over $50 million in revenue from its operations last year, is expected to contribute to Bullish’s earnings. Farley expressed his belief in a resurgence of the digital assets industry, stating that some of CoinDesk’s products and services are strong businesses that Bullish aims to own in a crypto bull run. The company announced plans to make a “significant investment” in its future as well as in the industry’s growth. Furthermore, it was revealed that Matt Murray, the former editor-in-chief of The Wall Street Journal, will lead CoinDesk’s editorial committee.
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