Michael Saylor, the Executive Chairman and co-founder of MicroStrategy, has surprisingly announced that he will sell his company’s stocks (MSTR stock) worth $216 million to purchase additional bitcoin (BTC) amid the recent price surge of the digital asset.
In a filing submitted with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) on January 2, Saylor confirmed that he has initiated the process of selling his 315,000 stock options, which were awarded to him in April 2014. These stock options are set to expire on April 30, 2024.
Michael Saylor will Sell 5K Shares Daily
In the latest quarterly earnings call held by MicroStrategy on November 2, Michael Saylor unveiled a strategic move to liquidate around 5,000 shares daily over the next four months. The execution of this plan is contingent upon the shares attaining a predetermined minimum price.
This announcement follows Saylor’s previous disclosure in the company’s 10-Q filing on November 1, where he indicated the authorization to sell up to 400,000 shares from his vested options by April 26.
Saylor has chosen to sell a portion of his shares with the goal of fulfilling personal financial commitments and strengthening his individual bitcoin holdings. Despite these sales, he underscores his commitment to retaining a substantial equity stake in MicroStrategy.
He added:
“Exercising this option will allow me to address personal obligations as well as acquire additional Bitcoin to my personal account,”
Michael Saylor and MSTR Stock
The MicroStrategy co-founder’s stake in the company remains “significant” irrespective of his personal sale. It is important to note that, as per a November 1 Q-10 filing with the SEC, Saylor is allowed to sell a maximum of 400,000 shares of his vested options between January 2 and April 26 of this year.
As per TradingView data, the MicroStrategy stock has outperformed Bitcoin despite the digital asset’s 170% rally from the start of last year, gaining 411% over the course of the last year. The company remains bullish on Bitcoin and, as of now, holds 189,150 Bitcoin worth around $8.5 billion at current prices.
Saylor Bullish on Bitcoin
Saylor has been a long-time Bitcoin bull, predicting that the digital asset will grow ten times in price by the end of 2024 at the 2023 Australia Crypto Convention on November 10. He also noted that the digital asset has transitioned from being an “offshore unregulated asset” to becoming an “institutionalized mainstream app” between 2020 and 2024.
“I think that the next 12 months are going to be a big one. Because demand [on a monthly basis] should double or triple, or maybe go up by a factor of 10, anywhere from two to 10. […] and the supply available for sale will be cut in half in April,” Saylor said at the time.
While talking about the approval of a Spot Bitcoin Exchange-Traded Fund (ETF) in the United States with Bloomberg on December 19, Saylor claimed that the BTC ETF is the biggest development on Wall Street since the introduction of the S&P 500 index fund. He also predicted that 2024 is going to be a major bull run for the digital asset sector.
