MicroStrategy's Michael Saylor initiates $216 mn share sale to increase BTC holding

Slayor’s Bitcoin wallet to get bigger: Michael Saylor, Executive Chairman, MicroStrategy, has started his four-month plan to offload shares worth $216 million from his company. Saylor's decision, disclosed in a filing with the United States Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) on January 2, stems from his intent to increase his personal Bitcoin portfolio.

The filing reveals that Saylor started the share sale by executing the sale of an initial tranche of 5,000 shares, part of the 315,000 stock options given to him in April 2014, which are set to expire on April 30, 2024.

Stake still remains significant

In MicroStrategy's third-quarter earnings call last November, Saylor articulated his strategy to liquidate 5,000 MSTR shares daily over the forthcoming four months. He set aside the proceeds for addressing personal financial commitments and increasing his personal Bitcoin holdings. Despite the divestment, Saylor said that his ownership stake in MicroStrategy remains ‘significant.’

A November 1 filing (Form Q-10) with the SEC delineates that Saylor has the prerogative to offload up to 400,000 shares of his vested options from January 2 to April 26, 2024.

While Bitcoin witnessed a 170 per cent surge since the beginning of the previous year, MicroStrategy's performance moved around the token, registering a 411 per cent uptick. Furthermore, MicroStrategy fortified its Bitcoin reserves with an acquisition of 14,620 Bitcoin for $615 million on December 27, taking its total Bitcoin holdings to approximately 189,150 Bitcoin, valued at roughly $8.5 billion at prevailing market rates.