CoreWeave CEO on partnership with Core Scientific amid growing shareholder opposition

coreweave CEO Michael Intrator told CNBC on Tuesday about the company’s proposed acquisition: core scientific This would be more of a “nice-to-have” than a necessity, as shareholders prepare for the possibility of blocking the deal.

In July, AI cloud provider Coreweave proposed an all-stock deal worth about $9 billion to acquire Bitcoin mining and data center company Core Scientific. Immediately after the news, Core Scientific’s stock price fell, plummeting nearly 18%.

The deal has been criticized, with leading proxy advisory firm Institutional Shareholder Services (ISS) recommending shareholders vote against the deal on Monday. ISS said Core Scientific’s stock price continued to rise after the deal was announced, suggesting that some investors believe the company is valued at more than Coreweave’s offer.

Intrater said he was “disappointed” by the ISS report and continued to believe the transaction was “in the long-term interest of Core Scientific shareholders.” However, CoreWeave will not increase the price of the Offer.

“We believe the bid we submitted to (Core Scientific) fairly represents the relative value of both companies in an all-stock transaction,” Intrater told CNBC. “If the deal doesn’t go through, we’re still going to proceed as we’ve always done. It’s a nice-to-have, not a necessity for us.”

“Everything has a value, and the numbers we have come up with are the values ​​we are willing to pay for them under all circumstances,” Intrater added.

Earlier this month, Two Seas Capital, a major Core Scientific shareholder, publicly opposed the deal, saying the price offered by Coreweave was too low. Shareholders are scheduled to vote on the deal on October 30th.

“We see no reason why Core Scientific shareholders should accept such an underwhelming transaction. Based on recent transaction data, there is little evidence that they will,” Two Seas Capital said in a letter to shareholders on Friday.

CoreWeave has been aggressively pursuing AI-related acquisitions this year, including OpenPipe, Weights & Biases, and Monolith, as it looks to expand its product offering.

A company that builds data centers and provides services NvidiaIt is riding the wave of investment in artificial intelligence by providing computing power to hyperscalers like Microsoft.

“We are in acquisition mode as we continue to build and expand our capabilities,” Intrater said.