- The New York Times has claimed that Taylor Swift didn’t walk away from an FTX deal
- The report says that FTX pulled the plug after deciding it wasn’t worth the outlay
- The revelation proves that Swift was lucky rather than astute in the matter
Taylor Swift didn’t exercise good judgment when it came to her dalliance with FTX and was instead dumped by the exchange, according to a new report. The New York Times reports that the singer signed a sponsorship agreement with FTX after more than six months of discussions but Sam Bankman-Fried pulled out at the last minute, leaving Swift’s team “frustrated and disappointed.” This is a far cry from the accepted version of events to date which saw Swift’s team turn down the deal over after investigating the exchange and raising concerns over its securities status.
Swift Signed $100 Million Deal
In December last year, the Financial Times revealed how FTX was in late-stage negotiations for a sponsorship deal worth over $100 million with Swift including a ticketing arrangement with NFTs. While some employees favored the deal, others opposed it, citing its high cost and questioning the value delivered by previous celebrity deals. Senior executives, including FTX US president Brett Harrison and US general counsel Ryne Miller, urged FTX CEO Sam Bankman-Fried to drop the talks.
Skeptics also doubted whether Swift’s reach would align with the target demographic of cryptocurrency traders. Ultimately, the collapse of negotiations in early November spared Swift from any association with FTX, which later filed for bankruptcy, attributing the collapse to management failures.
Moskowitz Backtracks on Prior Statements
The New York Times quotes lawyer Adam Moskowitz, from whom the story originated, as now saying that he didn’t have access to the meetings that formed the narrative. The outlet cited three people who were involved in the aborted deal as saying that Swift’s side signed the sponsorship agreement with FTX after more than six months of discussions and it was in fact Bankman-Fried who pulled out.
This shows that Swift’s escape was probably simple dumb luck rather than being a result of smart business acumen.
