Bullish acquires CoinDesk from Digital Currency Group for $75 million
• Bullish paid around $75 million to acquire CoinDesk from Digital Currency Group, which had purchased it for just $500,000 in 2016 but was hoping to get $300 million in a sale during the crypto boom.
• Bullish is a crypto exchange backed by investors like Peter Thiel, but has a questionable history - its parent company Block.one raised $4 billion for its EOS blockchain but faced issues like congestion and centralization.
• Bullish launched CoinDesk in 2021 and planned to go public via a SPAC at a $9 billion valuation, but called that off amid the crypto crash.
• Bullish has shaken up CoinDesk's leadership team despite initially claiming it would be unchanged, raising concerns about editorial independence.
• It's unclear if the new CEO Sara Stratoberdha, formerly of Blackstone and Credit Suisse, will maintain CoinDesk's editorial integrity as she lacks media experience.