Maybe this is why Adam left. All credit to him if so, he was championing our interests.
The same canāt be said of the team / investors who have accepted this sale.
Also thinking about where to move my investmentsā¦
If you had EIS on those shares then you might be eligible for EIS loss relief. Youāll have to do your own research into this though.
Thatās a big assumptionā¦ We have no idea the real interactions and thoughts of the FT exec team
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@Racxie I think a lot of people (myself included) are unhappy with the app/features/web platform etc compared to competitors, and were staying at FT mainly because of their investment in the platform. I have free Plus for life so will probs stay but if that changes, Iāll be gone straight to IBKR
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With the current numbers would you not have been in an even stronger position in a years time without any further investment?
The timing and valuation just seem wrong unless things are expected to go backwards.
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(emphasis mine)
WHAT GIVES WITH THE VALUATION???
Iāve mentioned it a couple of times now but I moved to T212. Think it was during the initial covid phase in 2020, but I had already become unhappy with FT prior to that.
Like any platform theyāre not perfect, but Iām personally happy with them. Compared to Freetrade I think they could definitely improve on their communication and customer support (something Freetrade excelled in near the beginning), and they can also be a bit slow to adopt somethings e.g. they should finally be releasing a SIPP some time this year (assuming thereās no more delays), so I wouildnāt be suprirsed if itāll be even longer before we see other products like JISA & LISA (if at all). Also being reliant on third party brokers they can suffer from some of the drawbacks like Freetrade with liquidity (e.g. the GME drama) and you can sometimes see halts on stocks, so as others have pointed out if you want to avoid those kind of scenarios youāre better off with a traditional broker like HG&L or AJB.
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I feel the same. I have supported FT since R2 and finished with just a modest follow on in R6. I was customer no 50 something, joining on Day 1 and have Ā£200K+ and growing invested with them, enjoying the Plus for Life that will no doubt get pulled (or perhaps not if IG use their nous). I used to spreadbet till the day an overleveraged stock imploded spectacularly and Ā£11k went puff, margin called and my position (thankfully) closed. The account was with IG, LOL. One could drag money from your ISA and place in the spread bet account. I succumbed and learnt lessons the hard way but thankfully not losing more money than I could afford. I have not touched leveraged products since and I believed that a core of FTās values was not to touch such products. I am very disappointed with todayās turn of events, particularly the valuation that shafts most of the shareholder base. I will make some money at least but not a nice pre-retirement pot at the end of the 2020s that I had hoped. I am now in a pretty well paid job and it is highly unlikely that my burgeoning investment portfolio will remain with FT. A shame but not massively surprising. Crowdfunding really is the Wild West (and something else I stopped doing some years ago save for very occasional follow-ons off CC platform).
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Even without the EIS you still get loss relief on unlisted shares:
https://www.taxinsider.co.uk/share-loss-relief-on-investment-in-unquoted-companies-don-t-lose-out-ta
The loss made can be used to offset income or CG.
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Amazing to think with the company now in profit,
investors from 5 years ago would have been better putting their money under their mattress.
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I blame the board. Every investment carries risk, and if the board acts with the right interests and fails, then thatās fair enough. That is the risk of investing.
However, if the board sell out on the cheap to benefit themselves and a few VCs at the expense of the majority of retail investors, then no that is not okay. There is a fudiciary responsibility to ALL shareholders, not just those that may hold a certain class of shares.
Further more your equivocation of Nike trainers really is absurd. You buy trainers you own them. Leaving Freetrade here isnāt about the product, itās the service. A service which holds your savings, investments, pension. A service provided by someone who has demonstrated they donāt have your interests in mind.
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At least youāve made it clear (like I have) that youāre unhappy with the platform (as a customer), so this is a far more reasonable justification for leaving, but a lot of peope here donāt even seem to mention that theyāre unhappy as customers, just as investors.
Honestly even if I had free Plus for life I sitll donāt think that would have been enough for me to have stuck with Freetrade due to the inferior product as you mentioned, though at the same time I donāt blame someone like you for wanting to get your moneyās worth especially now.
Wonāt somebody please think of the poor VCs? 
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Is anyone able to tell me what 385 b (Ā£2.60 2023) shares are worth please?
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As a consolation for all investors that lost money, how about free Plus for life?
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Multiply the number of shares you have by 1.19
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This is the real crux of the issue you have a board, founders and VCs which represent the majority of shareholders who have different interests and a different risk profile to ordinary investors who took part in the crowd funding rounds.
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Also literally untrue as lower entry and added protection means lower risk compared to crowd funding (ironically).
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Ahh, the B share holders voted, who get a different sale price. Not particularly democratic is it
1.19 approx.