MicroStrategy’s Bitcoin Gamble Pays Off: Michael Saylor Reaps $1.5 Billion in Profit

Key Takeaways

• MicroStrategy’s Bitcoin holdings are currently worth nearly $2B more than what the company paid.
• Under CEO Michael Saylor’s leadership, the company has been continuously stacking BTC since 2020.
• In November, MicroStrategy bought 16,130 BTC at an average price of $36,785 per coin.

When MicroStrategy started investing in Bitcoin in 2020, CEO Michael Saylor lauded the cryptocurrency as a “dependable store of value and an attractive investment asset.”

At the end of November, MicroStrategy was sitting on Bitcoin worth over $7.2B, nearly $2B more than what it paid, cementing the firm’s position as the world’s largest BTC whale and seeming to validate Saylor’s enduring bullishness. 

MicroStrategy Keeps On Buying

In a recent post on X, Saylor revealed that Microstrategy purchased 16,130 BTC in November at an average price of $36,785 per coin. Since it started investing in the cryptocurrency, MicroStrategy has paid an average of $30,252 per BTC.

November’s acquisitions represent Microstrategy’s largest monthly BTC purchases since investing $1B in February 2021. The recent spending spree has been especially prominent, but month after month, through bull and bear markets, the company has rarely stopped buying Bitcoin, even borrowing hundreds of millions of dollars to fund its purchases. 

After crypto markets flatlined for most of the summer, at one point in September, Microstrategy had unrealized losses of around $500M from its Bitcoin investments. 

In the long run, however, temporary losses could arguably be justified in the name of buying the dip. And for now, at least, Saylor’s strategy has paid off, with investments made when BTC was trading below $30,000 up 30% or more.

Share Price Rallies As MicroStrategy’s BTC Holdings Swell

MicroStrategy now owns so much BTC that it could soon control 1% of the total supply. According to Saylor’s latest announcement, the company holds 144,530 coins, representing nearly 0.74% of the circulating supply  of around 19.56M BTC on December 4.

Given its massive crypto hoard, MicroStrategy’s share price has surged by around 275% in 2023, rising with the price of BTC. 

Significantly, the company’s stock market performance throughout the year closely tracks the ups and downs of the crypto market. For example, MicroStrategy stock witnessed a major jump as Bitcoin rallied in mid-October.