Strategy Returns to Large Bitcoin Buys, Adding $835M Last Week
Hamstrung from common share sales due to the cratering in their stock price, Michael Saylor and team turned to preferred share issuance.
Fresh weekly buys of bitcoin are no longer news for Michael Saylor’s Strategy (MSTR), but large purchases had mostly been off the table for some time.
The company last week, though, acquired an additional 8,178 BTC for $835.6 million, or an average price of $102,171 each.
This sizable buy was financed mostly through the sale of the company’s latest preferred offering, STRE, or Steam, which brought Strategy’s high yields to European investors, raising about $715 million earlier this month. The company also raised $131.4 million via its STRC, or Stretch, preferred series, per a Monday morning filing.
Total holdings are now 649,870 BTC acquired for $48.37 billion, or $74,433 each.
Strategy’s bitcoin purchases of late had been mostly very incremental as the sharp decline in the company’s stock price — lower by about 56% in just the past four months — had pretty much ruled out any large common share offerings.
Trading at $199 early Monday, MSTR enterprise value now sits only barely above the value of the bitcoin on its balance sheet, making common stock issuance dilutive to existing holders.
Bitcoin is trading at $94,500 Monday, down slightly from Friday’s levels.
By James Van Straten|Edited by Stephen Alpher
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