TSM has Esports teams across multiple games, like League of Legends, Dota 2, Apex Legends, Hearthstone, and more. They even had a Counter-Strike: Global Offensive team based in Denmark, that later became Astralis and also briefly owned an Overwatch team.
TSM and FTX signed a massive 10-year sponsorship deal for $210 million in 2021 for naming rights, in which FTX would have its name right after TSM (TSM FTX) and the money would be spread by $21 million per year.
The Esports Organization wrote in its statement that it has been 'monitoring FTX's evolving situation and discussing it internally'. They decided to terminate their partnership and remove all FTX branding from their org and team players' social media and player jerseys.
Read TSM's tweet below:
We've suspended our partnership with FTX effective immediately. pic.twitter.com/u8vQSWnAbX
— TSM (@TSM) November 16, 2022
What happened to FTX?
Cryptocurrency exchange FTX collapsed in early November 2022 after a CoinDesk report highlighting potential leverage and solvency concerns about FTX's sister trading firm Alameda Research. Just days after that CoinDesk report, customers demanded withdrawals worth over $6 Billion.
FTX faced a liquidity crisis and a search for bailout funds. Rival exchange Binance considered buying a part of the company but quickly pulled out. By November 11th, FTX CEO Bankman-Fried stepped down and the company filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection. In the hours that followed, FTX experienced a potential hack and hundreds of millions of dollars worth of tokens were stolen.
ℹ️ Chapter 11 bankruptcy allows a company to stay in business and reorganize its assets.
FTX's valuation plunged from $32 Billion to bankruptcy in just a couple of days. The Founder and CEO Sam Bankman-Fried's (SBF) net worth also evaporated.
