When Michael Saylor of MicroStrategy appeared on CNBC’s “Closing Bell: Overtime” in December to discuss cryptocurrency, he emphasized that bitcoin’s forward momentum in 2024 makes a strategy centered around it relatively safe for institutions.
While the long-term security of bitcoin remains a topic of debate, Michael Saylor’s approach has proven highly lucrative, especially this week.
MicroStrategy’s stock, which derives much of its value from its bitcoin holdings, surged 10% on Wednesday, marking a three-day rally of 40%. Michael Saylor, MicroStrategy’s largest investor with a 12% stake in the company, also revealed in 2020 that he personally owns 17,732 bitcoins.
As a result, Saylor’s net worth has increased by approximately $700 million since Sunday.
Combining Saylor’s control of MicroStrategy and his bitcoin holdings, his assets grew from $2.27 billion at the beginning of the week to $2.96 billion by Wednesday.
MicroStrategy declined to comment on Michael Saylor’s personal finances
The main catalyst for this week’s surge has been bitcoin’s climb to its highest level since November 2021, reaching around $64,000 on Wednesday from $51,500 early Monday. However, it retreated to about $60,000 later in the day due to glitches in Coinbase’s app, which displayed a zero balance for many users.
Michael Saylor, who founded MicroStrategy in 1989 and still serves as chairman, is a prominent advocate for bitcoin, co-authoring a book on the cryptocurrency in 2023 titled “What is Money?”
Although MicroStrategy primarily operates in enterprise software and cloud-based services, its substantial bitcoin holdings effectively make it a proxy for the cryptocurrency market.
On Monday, the company announced the acquisition of an additional 3,000 bitcoins for $155 million between Feb. 15 and Feb. 25. MicroStrategy and its subsidiaries now possess about 193,000 bitcoins valued at nearly $12 billion.
In mid-2020, MicroStrategy revealed its plan to invest in bitcoin, committing $250 million over the next 12 months to “one or more alternative assets,” including digital currencies like bitcoin. At that time, the company’s market cap was approximately $1.1 billion, but it has since grown to over $16 billion.
During MicroStrategy’s latest earnings call on Feb. 7, Chief Financial Officer Andrew Kang stated, “We are the largest corporate holder of bitcoin in the world, and we remain committed to our bitcoin acquisition strategy with the highest conviction.”
MicroStrategy’s shares have risen by 52% this year, following a 346% surge in 2023.
