David Edwards
MicroStrategy, a company enthusiastic about Bitcoin, saw its shares (NASDAQ:MSTR) end above $500 on Black Friday, reaching a level not seen since December 2021. The firm’s market value hit $7.33 billion, as reported by a New York-based, technology-focused stock exchange.
The company’s strategy of maintaining a substantial Bitcoin portfolio has paid off. Despite starting the year with a quarterly loss, its stock value doubled in just a month. MicroStrategy, under the leadership of founder and chairman Michael Saylor, who began investing in Bitcoin in August 2020 as an inflation safeguard, is now among the largest institutional Bitcoin owners.
Michael Saylor, speaking to CNBC, expressed optimism about the next 12 months. He anticipates rising demand and shrinking supply for Bitcoin, a situation he views as unprecedented in Wall Street history.
The company’s fortunes continued to improve. By April, MicroStrategy’s Bitcoin investment was profitable. Bitcoin’s price surged past $30,000. The acquisition of an additional 1,045 Bitcoins, bringing its total to 140,000, lowered the average cost of its $4 billion Bitcoin investment to $29,803 per coin.
MicroStrategy’s second-quarter earnings report included a $24 million Bitcoin impairment charge, but the company returned to profitability. Continuing to invest in Bitcoin, it amassed 152,800 coins, valued around $4.4 billion.
Even as Bitcoin recovered, stocks of companies heavily invested in Bitcoin, like MicroStrategy, outperformed the cryptocurrency, which itself had risen 87% for the year.
In its latest quarterly report in early November, MicroStrategy reported a net loss of $143.4 million, far greater than the $27 million loss from the previous year’s corresponding period. Despite this, the company continued its Bitcoin buying spree, acquiring another 6,067 Bitcoins for $167 million.
MicroStrategy now holds about 0.75% of the total Bitcoin in circulation.
