Esports group TSM suspends FTX partnership “effective immediately”

Esports organisation Team SoloMid (TSM) has announced that its partnership with major sponsor FTX is officially suspended “effective immediately,” following the bankruptcy of the cryptocurrency exchange platform FTX.

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On November 11, FTX’s chief executive Sam Bankman-Fried resigned and the company filed for bankruptcy. FTX is now under investigation by the Justice Department, the Securities and Exchange Commission, and the Commodity Futured Trading Commission (via, The Washington Post).

Following the bankruptcy, which came after FTX was hit by £5billion ($6billion) of withdrawal requests due to rumours about the company’s financial situation, TSM has announced that its partnership is suspended with immediate effect.

The suspension means that all of TSM’s partnered branding with FTX – whether online, on merchandise, on clothing or banners – will no longer appear and is set to be removed. In its statement, TSM acknowledges that this could take “some time to complete” as “some social platforms have made changes to their product features.”

We've suspended our partnership with FTX effective immediately. pic.twitter.com/u8vQSWnAbX

— TSM (@TSM) November 16, 2022

TSM stated that the bankruptcy of FTX “doesn’t affect any part of [its] operating plan, which was set earlier this year.” The partnership was one of the largest sponsorship deals in esports history, having been first established in June 2021. TSM at the time signed a 10-year naming rights deal to feature FTX’s branding across all competitive scenes, teams and social media platforms.

The suspension of the partnership follows TSM’s announcement that it was “closely following the situation surrounding FTX” on November 13. The company had previously said, “To be clear, TSM is built on a solid foundation. We are stable and profitable, and we continue to forecast profitability for this year, next year, and beyond. We look forward to a great year in 2023.”

In other news, Bethesda has issued a statement in response to Doom composer Mick Gordon’s allegations of mismanagement.

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