By
Steve Muchoki
April 24th, 2024
NFL legend Tom Brady, and his former wife, are among several household names to lose sizable stakes following the recent FTX collapse.
American football dynamo Tom Brady and his supermodel ex-wife Gisele Bündchen find their FTX investment at risk following the exchange’s implosion. According to reports, the 7x Super Bowl champion and his former spouse previously invested a substantial but unknown amount of their funds in the currently embattled exchange. The duo made the investment likely in exchange for a sizable stake in FTX’s native token, FTT. However, following the recent wave of problems at the company, including the FTT collapse, Brady and Bündchen risk losing it all. This development adds to the quarterback’s personal challenges this year, including coming out of retirement and braving a divorce from Bündchen.
Details of Tom Brady and Gisele Bündchen Partnership with FTX
In June last year, Tom Brady and his ex-wife took an equity stake in FTX as part of a long-term partnership. The stipulated terms of the deal saw Brady take on an ambassadorial role at the exchange, with Bündchen becoming its Environmental and Social Initiatives Advisor. At the time, Brady enthused about the prospects of partnering with FTX, saying:
“It’s an incredibly exciting time in the crypto-world and Sam and the revolutionary FTX team continue to open my eyes to the endless possibilities…We have the chance to create something really special here, and I can’t wait to see what we’re able to do together.”
Brady’s former wife, Bündchen, also described her eagerness to join FTX as influenced by a charitable nature. According to the Brazilian supermodel at the time:
“What attracted me most about this partnership was the potential to apply resources to help regenerate the Earth, and enable people to lead better lives, therefore generating real transformation in our society.”
FTX on Slippery Slope
However, times have changed, and FTX, once a promising crypto venture, is now teetering on the brink of bankruptcy. The exchange recently appeared to be offered a lifeline by rival Binance, but the Changpeng Zhao-led firm ultimately backtracked.
In the last few days, FTX has experienced a torrent of fund withdrawals by worried customers, exceeding $6 billion. In addition, as of press time, the exchange’s native token is changing hands just above $2 after crashing more than 30%.
FTX’s decline also saw CEO Sam Bankman-Fried lose an astonishing 94%, or $14.6 billion, of his fortune in short order. After the mass withdrawals sustained, the company’s head honcho recently reached out to investors for an $8 billion rescue fund.
Brady and Bündchen, who have a collective net worth of $650million, may not experience a loss as steep as Bankman-Fried’s. However, the duo has likely lost 100% of the value of their ownership stake at the exchange.
The decorated quarterback and his former spouse are not the only big names to likely suffer losses from FTX. The embattled company also has business ties to NBA superstar Steph Curry and professional baseball pitcher Shohei Ohtani. In addition, FTX is a main sponsor of Major League Baseball (MLB) and has the naming rights to the Miami Heat arena.