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US singer Taylor Swift poses in the press room after winning six awards at the 50th Annual American Music Awards at the Microsoft Theater in Los Angeles, California, on November 20, 2022. –

Valerie Macon | AFP | Getty Images

Earlier this year, as the crypto meltdown was draining the industry of liquidity, FTX executives were begging company founder Sam Bankman-Fried to preserve cash and stop spending hundreds of millions of dollars on celebrity endorsements.

But the 30-year-old billionaire, who’d relied on branding and hype to rapidly take his crypto exchange from upstart to stalwart, was set on signing up one more big name.

Three people close to FTX and Bankman-Fried told CNBC that the former CEO lobbied aggressively for a partnership with 11-time Grammy Award winner Taylor Swift. The deal, which would have cost the now bankrupt company more than $100 million over three years, was close to coming to fruition before it fell apart in the spring, said the people, who asked not to be named because of confidentiality agreements.

The former executives, who had direct knowledge of the negotiations, said the partnership would’ve been a disaster for FTX because of the steep price tag. Bankman-Fried’s commitment to getting the Swift deal done despite the deteriorating business environment fit a pattern of ignoring his lieutenants and going it alone, a half-dozen former company insiders and business partners said.

The Financial Times reported earlier that FTX held talks with Swift about a potential sponsorship.

Bankman-Fried’s overconfidence was embedded into an organization that had few checks on its leader and no board of directors to hold him accountable. Meanwhile, Bankman-Fried portrayed a very different persona to the public, showing himself as a quirky young genius comfortable in shorts and a T-shirt or in a suit in front of Congress who repeatedly professed his belief in effective altruism, a philosophy that promotes the idea of earning a lot of money in order to donate it to the most important causes.

Valued at $32 billion earlier this year by private investors, FTX spiraled into bankruptcy last month after skepticism emerged about the health of the crypto exchange’s financials and customers began demanding withdrawals only to be told their money wasn’t available. Even facing potential criminal charges and the possibility of years in prison, Bankman-Fried has continued to shun advisers by speaking publicly, offering press interviews and tweeting his defense.

CEO Sam Bankman-Fried

Bloomberg | Bloomberg | Getty Images

“I have a duty to talk to people; I have a duty to explain what happened,” Bankman-Fried said in a video interview at the New York Times DealBook Summit last week, acknowledging that his lawyers are opposed to his current tactics. “I don’t see what good is accomplished by me just sitting locked in a room pretending the outside world doesn’t exist.”

Between his DealBook appearance, an interview with ABC’s “Good Morning America” and his commentary on various podcasts, Bankman-Fried has repeatedly claimed that FTX’s downfall was the result of sloppy management and excessive risk.

Bankman-Fried has denied committing fraud and said he was unaware of much of the intermingling of funds that took place between FTX and Alameda Research, Bankman-Fried’s hedge fund. At least $8 billion in FTX customer funds are now unaccounted for and were used to backstop billions in loan losses at Alameda.

Pursuing Swift NFTs

Bankman-Fried also ran fast and loose with company cash. Within just over two years of starting FTX in 2019, Bankman-Fried signed a $135 million, 19-year deal with the NBA’s Miami Heat for naming rights on the team’s arena. He also inked sponsorships with the Golden State Warriors, Major League Baseball and Formula One and got Larry David to promote the company in a Super Bowl ad. Gisele Bündchen, Tom Brady, Shaquille O’Neal, Stephen Curry, David Ortiz and Naomi Osaka were among the brand’s ambassadors.

Part of the Swift deal would have included the production by the singer of a collection of non-fungible tokens (NFTs), or digital items that can rise and fall in value. Beyond that, there was a lack of clarity over what Swift would be doing for the company, sources said. After the Swift agreement fell apart, talks emerged internally over a deal with Katy Perry as recently as August, one person said.

Representatives for Swift declined to comment, and Perry did not respond to CNBC’s request for comment.

Sam Bankman-Fried faces possible bankruptcy after failed FTX deal

FTX insiders said that while some people in and around the company questioned Bankman-Fried’s decisions, he surrounded himself most immediately with a crew of yes men. Two sources used the word “insular” in describing his leadership style. Bankman-Fried mainly sought advice from a tight-knight group in the Bahamas, where he lived and where the company was headquartered, sources said.

One former FTX executive said Bankman-Fried had a tendency to chew out employees who disagreed with him in a way that deterred others from speaking up. When Bankman-Fried was angry, sources said his knee-jerk reaction was to immediately blame underlings. Some former insiders said Bankman-Fried put on an act for the public, portraying himself as an easygoing CEO.

Bankman-Fried said in a message to CNBC that he disagrees with the characterizations provided by those former employees. He declined to comment on details of the Swift negotiations.

“Partnerships were an area that was more contentious and on the margin I originally was in favor and ultimately started pushing back on new ones,” Bankman-Fried said in the message.

John Ray, the new CEO tapped to restructure FTX said in filings that in his 40 years of legal experience, which includes Enron’s liquidation, he had never seen “such a complete failure of corporate controls and such a complete absence of trustworthy financial information as occurred here.”

One of Bankman-Fried’s closest confidants was Caroline Ellison, the ex-CEO of Alameda Research, who he once dated. The pair would often go on lunch walks around FTX’s fenced-in Nassau headquarters, one FTX executive said.

Outside of his Bahamas cohort, Bankman-Fried went to great lengths to avoid speaking to others and he stayed away from face-to-face confrontations, preferring the encrypted messaging app Signal or Slack, one top deputy said. He frequently ignored messages from C-level executives if he disagreed with them.

Another former insider said employees were afraid of Bankman-Fried, adding that “there were very few people who were willing to challenge Sam.”

WATCH: Bankman-Fried said he didn’t ever try to commit fraud on anyone

I didn't ever try to commit fraud on anyone: Sam Bankman-Fried

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Palantir’s astronomical growth in 3 charts

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Palantir's astronomical growth in 3 charts

Alexander Karp, chief executive officer and co-founder of Palantir Technologies Inc.

Scott Eelis | Bloomberg | Getty Images

Palantir‘s astronomical rise since its public debut on the New York Stock Exchange in a 2020 direct listing has been nothing short of a whirlwind.

Over nearly five years, the Denver-based company, whose cofounders include renowned venture capitalist Peter Thiel and current CEO Alex Karp, has surged more than 1,700%. At the same time, its valuation has broken new highs, dwarfing some of the world’s technology behemoths with far greater revenues.

The artificial intelligence-powered software company continued its ascent last week after posting its first quarter with more than $1 billion in revenue, reaching new highs and soaring past a $430 billion market valuation.

Shares haven’t been below $100 since April 2025. The stock last traded below $10 in May 2023, before beginning a steady climb higher.

Retail investors are a key part of the stock’s strength.

Last month, retail poured $1.2 billion into Palantir stock, according to data from Goldman Sachs.

Here’s a closer look at Palantir’s growth over the last five years and how the company compares to megacap peers.

Government money

Government contracts have been one of Palantir’s biggest growth areas since its inception.

Last quarter, the company’s U.S. government revenue grew 53% to $426 million. Government accounted for 55% of the company’s total revenue but commercial is showing promise. Those revenues in the U.S. grew 93% last quarter, Palantir said.

Still, one of the company’s oldest customers is the U.S. Army.

Earlier this month, the company inked a contract worth up to $10 billion for data and software to streamline efficiencies and meet growing military needs. In May, the Department of Defense boosted its agreement with Palantir for AI-powered battlefield capabilities by $795 million.

“We still believe America is the leader of the free world, that the West is superior,” Karp said on an earnings call earlier this month. “We have to fight for these values; we should give American corporations, and, most importantly, our government, an unfair advantage.”

Beyond the U.S.

The U.S. has been a key driver of Palantir’s growth, especially as the company scoops up more contracts with the U.S. military.

Palantir said the U.S. currently accounts for about three-quarters of total revenues. Commercial international revenues declined 3% last quarter and analysts have raised concerns about that segment’s growth trajectory.

Over the last five years, U.S. revenues have nearly quintupled from $156 million to about $733 million. Revenues outside the U.S. have doubled from about $133 million to $271 million.

Paying a premium

Palantir’s market capitalization has rapidly ascended over the last year as investors bet on its AI tools, while its stock has soared nearly 500%.

The meteoric rise placed Palantir among the top 10 U.S. tech firms and top 20 most valuable U.S. companies. But Palantir makes a fraction of the revenue of the companies in those lists.

Last quarter, Palantir reported more than $1 billion in quarterly revenue for the first time, and its forward price-to-earnings ratio has surged past 280 times.

By comparison, Apple and Microsoft posted revenue of $94 billion and $76 billion during the period, respectively, and carry a PE ratio of nearly 30 times.

Forward PE is a valuation metric that compares a company’s future earnings to its current share price. The higher the PE, the higher the growth expectations or the more overvalued the asset. A lower price-to-earnings ratio suggests slower growth or an undervalued asset.

Most of the Magnificent Seven stocks, except for Nvidia and Tesla, have a forward PE that hovers around the 20s and 30s. Nvidia trades at more than 40 times forward earnings, while Tesla’s sits at about 198 times.

At these levels, investors are paying a jacked-up premium to own shares of one of the hottest AI stocks on Wall Street as its valuation has skyrocketed to astronomical heights.

“This is a once-in-a-generation, truly anomalous quarter, and we’re very proud,” Karp said on an earnings call following Palantir’s second-quarter results. “We’re sorry that our haters are disappointed, but there are many more quarters to be disappointed.”

CNBC’s Gabriel Cortes contributed to this story.

Palantir is 'more than a meme,' it's an AI infrastructure winner: Piper Sandler's Brent Bracelin

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Apple Watch getting redesigned blood oxygen feature following legal dispute

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Apple Watch getting redesigned blood oxygen feature following legal dispute

Tim Cook, chief executive officer of Apple Inc., during the Apple Worldwide Developers Conference (WWDC) at Apple Park campus in Cupertino, California, US, on Monday, June 9, 2025.

David Paul Morris | Bloomberg | Getty Images

Apple on Thursday announced a redesigned blood oxygen feature for some Apple Watch users, following a years-long intellectual property dispute over the capability.

Apple said the redesigned feature is coming to some Apple Watch Series 9, Series 10, and Apple Watch Ultra 2 users on Thursday. The update was possible because of a recent U.S. Customs ruling, the company said.

In 2023, the International Trade Commission found that Apple’s blood oxygen sensors infringed on intellectual property from Masimo, a medical technology company. Apple paused the sale of some of its watches and began selling modified versions of the wearables without the blood oxygen feature.

“Apple’s teams work tirelessly to create products and services that empower users with industry-leading health, wellness, and safety features that are grounded in science and have privacy at the core,” the company said in a release announcing the feature rollout.

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Apple still has a lot of ways to deliver a premium AI experience, says T. Rowe Price's Tony Wang

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Bitcoin touches record, ether almost makes new high before rolling over

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Bitcoin touches record, ether almost makes new high before rolling over

Ether and bitcoin.

Yuriko Nakao | Getty Images

Bitcoin hit a new record late Wednesday as ether climbed even closer to its all-time high.

The flagship cryptocurrency rose as high as $124,496, surpassing its July record of 123,193.63, according to Coin Metrics. Ether rose to $4,791.19 overnight, edging closer to its 2021 record of $4,866.01.

Both coins took a hit Thursday, however, after July’s wholesale inflation data came in much hotter than expected. Bitcoin was lower by 3% at $118,481.00 while ether fell 2% to $4,629.20.

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Bitcoin hit a new record overnight, surpassing its July all-time high

The initial gains were sparked by Tuesday’s cooler-than-expected July inflation report, which had lifted investor optimism for rate cuts from the Federal Reserve at the end of its September policy meeting. The coins rallied with the stock market for two days. On Wednesday, the S&P 500 and Nasdaq also scaled new records.

For the week, bitcoin is on pace for a nearly 2% gain, while ether has rallied more than 14%. Ether flipped bitcoin as the crypto market leader in June, gaining 85% since then thanks to heavy institutional buying, tightening supply and adoption from corporate accumulators – all under the backdrop of a friendlier regulatory environment for the crypto industry. Jake Kennis, analyst at Nansen, said the rally likely has more room to run given the flows remain strong.

“Bitcoin hitting a fresh all time high and ETH being on the verge of doing so means we’ve moved from speculative mania to a phase where institutional adoption, real-world integration, and global liquidity are driving price discovery,” said Ben Kurland, CEO at crypto research and trading platform DYOR.

“The fact that both assets are on the verge of breaking records in tandem signals broad market conviction, not just a single-asset rally,” he added. “Momentum this strong rarely burns out instantly, but it also tends to draw in latecomers who can fuel volatility. Right now the story is less about euphoria and more about validation. Crypto is graduating from ‘alternative’ to ‘essential’ in the global portfolio mix.”

Don’t miss these cryptocurrency insights from CNBC Pro:

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