Strategy Skips Bitcoin, Buys Back $139M of Its Own Stock Instead

The biggest corporate Bitcoin holder passed on buying more BTC last week, spending $139M to repurchase its own shares while sitting on a huge cash pile.

Strategy, the world's largest corporate owner of Bitcoin, decided not to buy more of the cryptocurrency last week. Instead, the company spent $139 million buying back some of its own shares.

Strategy (formerly known as MicroStrategy) is a technology company that became famous for using its cash to buy and hold huge amounts of Bitcoin. Because it owns so much, people often watch its buying habits closely.

According to a filing with the SEC (Securities and Exchange Commission — the U.S. government agency that regulates financial markets), the company did the following between September 8 and 13:

Bought back 1.42 million shares of its preferred stock (a special type of company share that usually pays fixed dividends) for about $139.3 million
A "buyback" means the company purchases its own shares from the market, which can help support the stock price.

Here's what Strategy currently holds:

845,050 bitcoins, worth about $66.2 billion at today's prices
$5.1 billion in a cash reserve
$1.3 billion in additional cash

This is a big change in behavior. For years, Strategy reliably bought Bitcoin almost every week. But this year, it shifted toward buying back its own stock and building a cash cushion — and it has even sold small amounts of Bitcoin at times. That surprised many, since founder Michael Saylor famously told people to "never sell your bitcoin."

The company took a 10-week break from buying Bitcoin, then briefly bought nearly $370 million worth in late August. It hasn't bought any since.

Strategy's stock (ticker: MSTR) rose 3% on Monday, but it has fallen more than 75% from its record high in November 2024.

CEO Phong Le defended the strategy, saying the company now has a "bullet-proof balance sheet" and comparing the firm to "the J.P. Morgan of the crypto economy." He downplayed the company's recent $8.22 billion loss (a "paper loss," meaning a loss on value that hasn't been locked in by selling) as nothing for investors to worry about.

Bottom line: Strategy is being more cautious with its cash and focusing on its own shares rather than adding more Bitcoin — a notable shift for one of crypto's biggest believers.

This is an AI-generated summary. Read the original article at: https://bitcoinmagazine.com/news/strategy-again-skips-bitcoin-buy