MicroStrategy Inc., the company best known as the largest publicly traded holder of Bitcoin, added to its hoard of the world’s largest cryptocurrency in the past two months, using stock sales to help fund the almost $150 million worth of purchases.
The enterprise-software maker co-founded by crypto proponent Michael Saylor bought 5,445 Bitcoin between Aug. 1 and Sept. 24 at an average price of $27,053 per token, according to a filing Monday with the US Securities and Exchange Commission. The purchases came as Bitcoin traded in a range of $25,000 to $30,000; the coin is up almost 60% this year.
MicroStrategy started buying Bitcoin in 2020, and has ramped up purchases this year as the cryptocurrency recovered from a year of losses caused by rising rates and some high-profile crypto implosions and bankruptcies. The company returned to profitability in the second quarter after having to take a large writedown a year earlier because of the plunge in Bitcoin.
Bitcoin was trading at $26,150 as of 10:45 a.m. in New York, down about 1.4% on the day.
The Tysons Corner, Virginia-based company’s Bitcoin holdings stood at 158,245 tokens as of Sept. 24, acquired at an aggregate purchase price of $4.68 billion. The stockpile is worth about $4.1 billion based on current market prices. For its latest purchases, MicoStrategy raised an equivalent amount of money by issuing shares, similar to what it did when buying some 12,000 Bitcoin earlier this year.
Shares of MicroStrategy were down 1.5% at $317.99 as of 10:45 a.m on Monday in New York. The stock has more than doubled this year after tumbling 74% in 2022.
--With assistance from Tom Contiliano.
