Semafor CEO Reassures Staff that Sam Bankman-Fried Has ‘No Influence Over Our Editorial Coverage’ Despite Sizable Investment

Semafor CEO Justin Smith reassured staffers on Friday that disgraced FTX co-founder Sam Bankman-Fried has “no influence” over the media startup’s “editorial coverage or operations.”

Semafor has come under fire, including from Twitter owner Elon Musk, for having taken a publicly unknown amount of money from Bankman-Fried. The outlet has run stories about Bankman-Fried, including him having a $100 million stake in Twitter but then deciding not to fund Musk’s successful $44 billion acquisition of the social media platform.

In a note to staffers on Friday, Smith said that Bankman-Fried invested in the outlet’s “pre-seed round, which closed in May.”

“At the time, we accepted this investment in the spirit in which it was offered – to support independent journalism,” he continued.

Smith explained that there are firewalls to ensure that investors and stockholders do not interfere with editorial operations. This includes repurchasing stakeholder rights.

“In short, Bankman-Fried, like all of our investors, has no influence over our editorial coverage or operations,” he said. “Our reporting on Bankman-Fried and FTX reflects this, and I am proud to see our editorial team leading the charge on this unfolding story with scoop after scoop each week.”

How Semafor will deal with Bankman-Fried’s investment will depend on government guidance, according to Smith. Regardless, there likely won’t be “any impact on [Semafor’s] business,” he said.

“The situation has caused many people serious hardship and the collateral damage has been far-reaching,” said Smith. “While we continue to monitor the legal situation closely, the best thing we can do is to continue to report on this story with the relentless tenacity that audiences are coming to expect from us.”