Leading crypto exchange BINANCE is reportedly paying $200 million for a stake in Forbes. This development has an added angle to it, considering the fact that Binance once sued Forbes for defamation, and then voluntarily retracted the lawsuit.
Forbes, a world-renowned American business magazine, made the announcement on Thursday, February 10th. According to the publication, Binance’s $200 million outlay represents half of the $400 million private investment in public equity (PIPE) announced in August. Forbes issued an official statement that touched on the aforementioned deal expected to close by March. Part of the said statement read:
“With Binance assuming existing PIPE commitments, the overall size of the PIPE will remain at $400 million, and Binance’s investment will be according to substantially the same terms as the existing PIPE investors.”
At the time, Forbes announced the PIPE initiative and its intention to go public through Magnum Opus, a special purpose acquisition company (SPAC).
Binance’s involvement with Forbes comes a year after the crypto exchange platform dismissed its defamation lawsuit against Forbes. Back in November 2020, Binance took Forbes to court over false allegations made by the famed publication. The bone of contention was that Forbes, citing a leaked document, exposed Binance’s efforts to avoid the scrutiny of US regulators. At the time, Forbes wrote that Binance “conceived of an elaborate corporate structure designed to intentionally deceive regulators and surreptitiously profit from crypto investors in the United States.”
