Core Scientific, one of the world's largest publicly listed mining companies, rejected an unexpected and unsolicited buyout offer from Coreweave, an AI computing and cloud services provider, on June 3.
In a press release, Core Scientific announced that after careful consideration of the unsolicited offer of $5.75 per share, its board rejected the offer, citing a low valuation for the mining company:
"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."
Core Scientific concluded that the deal "is not in the best interests of the Company and its shareholders."
Related: Bitcoin mining firm Core Scientific mined $812M worth of BTC in 2023.
The buyout offer followed a series of long-term business deals between the two companies, the most recent of which allowed Coreweave to rent 18% of Core Scientific's infrastructure over a 12-year period.
In an effort to diversify revenue streams, Core Scientific signed a leasing contract with Coreweave in March 2023, agreeing to rent out one of its tier-3 data centers to the AI and cloud computing company,
This data center, located in Austin, Texas, provides 16 megawatts of capacity for Coreweave to run its high-performance AI computing services.
In December 2022, Core Scientific filed for Chapter 11 Bankruptcy at the height of the crypto bear market. Like many other mining firms, Core Scientific was impacted by high energy prices, cheap Bitcoin (BTC) prices, and other bankruptcies plaguing the industry at that time due to high debt and poor market conditions.
After a 13-month restructuring process, Core Scientific was relisted on stock exchanges in January of 2024. However, the company's stock experienced a 30% drop in value shortly after the relisting.
From the January relisting until the end of May, Core Scientific's stock price traded well below the $6.10 per share peak recorded upon the relisting.
The mining company's fortunes reversed toward the end of May and the beginning of June after Core Scientific reported improved financials for the first quarter of 2024, with $179.3 million in total revenues for the quarter. Core Scientific's stock price surged to a new high since the relisting and is currently trading around $8.02.
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