In a dramatic turn of events, Bitcoin miner Core Scientific has rejected an “unsolicited” $1 billion buyout offer from Nvidia-backed specialized cloud provider CoreWeave. The all-cash offer came in just five months after the company emerged from Chapter 11 bankruptcy.
Core Scientific said the all-cash offer significantly undervalues the company’s potential for future growth and was not in the best interests of its shareholders.
“The Board has evaluated the Company’s growth prospects and near- and long-term value creation potential, including in connection with both the previously announced CoreWeave agreements and the proposal. The Board determined that the CoreWeave proposal significantly undervalues the Company and is not in the best interests of the Company and its shareholders,” Core Scientific said in a statement.
The proposal, received on June 3, was a non-binding offer from CoreWeave to purchase all of Core Scientific’s outstanding shares at $5.75 per share, totaling $1.02 billion in cash. Interestingly, on the same day, both companies inked a separate deal for CoreWeave to utilize Core Scientific’s data centers for its high-performance computing (HPC) services.
“Core Scientific received an unsolicited non-binding proposal from CoreWeave on June 3 to acquire all of the company’s outstanding shares on a fully diluted basis for $1.02 billion or $5.75 per share in cash,” Reuters reported.
This offer comes just five months after Core Scientific emerged from bankruptcy. We covered Core Scientific back in 2022 when the Bitcoin mining startup filed for bankruptcy amid the crypto winter, which severely impacted mining companies.
Core Scientific is one the major players in the North American blockchain infrastructure and hosting landscape, also ranking as one of the largest digital asset miners. With operations sprawling across North Dakota, North Carolina, Georgia, and Kentucky, the company has already minted over 3,000 bitcoins this year, including 1,683 for its own account, CEO Mike Levitt said in an interview.
Back in 2022, the collapse of Bitcoin’s price from a peak above $69,000 in November 2021 to around $16,800 had pressured Core Scientific’s stock. Despite this, Levitt remains optimistic, stating, “We’re all sold out. Every bit of infrastructure we can build — and we’re the biggest — we have demand for. We’re basically sold out of capacity through 2022, and we’re building more.”
Founded in 2017 by former Myspace CTO and co-founder Aber Whitcomb, Core Scientific provides advanced blockchain and AI hosting, transaction processing, and application development services. The company’s platform supports large-scale partners globally, ensuring reliable solutions that adapt swiftly to market changes. According to its LinkedIn profile, Core Scientific employs over 100 people.
Adding to its recent history, a year ago, Core Scientific experienced a sudden leadership change when CEO Kevin Turner resigned after nearly three years at the helm. Co-founder and chairman Mike Levitt stepped in as CEO, steering the Bellevue, Washington-based blockchain and AI firm through its recovery phase.
