Coindesk media and publishing business is apparently considering a possible sale, as its parent firm Digital Currency Group (DCG) seeks to bolster its financial sheet. DCG has also reportedly received offers for CoinDesk in recent weeks.
The Wall Street Journal reports that CoinDesk has enlisted the assistance of investment bankers from the financial consultancy company Lazard, who is assisting the company in weighing possibilities, such as a whole or partial sale.
Since DCG allegedly bought the media business in 2016 for only $500,000, many offers surpassing $200 million for the company have allegedly been made to DCG in recent months. This would represent a spectacular return on investment.
DCG, owned by Barry Silbert, has lately seemed to be experiencing significant financial difficulty. On January 17, the company informed shareholders that it will stop paying dividends in an attempt to improve its balance sheet and “preserve liquidity.”
On January 18, Bloomberg reported that another DCG subsidiary, crypto lending company Genesis Global, was preparing to declare bankruptcy after admitting it owed creditors more than $3 billion. This was probably a major component in the financial difficulties that DCG was experiencing at the time.
According to its website, the venture capital portfolio of DCG includes 200 crypto-related companies, including CoinDesk and Genesis. DCG also owns the asset management company Grayscale Investments, the cryptocurrency exchange Luno, and the advising business Foundry.
Some people think that CoinDesk’s article from November exposing the irregularities in Alameda Research’s balance sheet was the initial domino that eventually led to the demise of cryptocurrency exchange FTX and the liquidity problems that Genesis and its parent company DCG and the larger crypto market are currently experiencing.
