Strategy, the company formerly known as MicroStrategy and chaired by Michael Saylor, added 950 bitcoin last week after several weeks without a purchase. The coins cost $75.7 million, at an average of $79,670 each, and lift total holdings to 846,000 BTC. In the same week, the company spent $174 million buying back its STRC perpetual preferred stock, funded from cash rather than new share sales. The mix says as much about capital structure management as about bitcoin accumulation. Treasurers watching the largest corporate bitcoin holder now measure how long cash can fund both the coin and the preferred.
The Read
- Strategy bought 950 BTC for $75.7M and now holds 846,000 BTC.
- It repurchased 1,771,238 STRC shares for $174.0M in the same week.
- USD cash fell to $1.05B, and no shares were sold through the ATM.
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ChatGPTStrategy’s 8-K Shows 950 Bitcoin and a $174M STRC Buyback
Strategy’s Form 8-K, filed with the SEC on September 21, records 950 BTC between September 14 and 20 for $75.7 million, at an average price of $79,670. Holdings now stand at 846,000 BTC, acquired for an aggregate $63.80 billion, or $75,416 per coin.
The same filing shows 1,771,238 STRC shares repurchased for $174.0 million. There were no buybacks of STRF, STRK, STRD or common MSTR stock during the period. The company also paid $57.4 million of preferred dividends and debt interest out of its USD Reserve.
It was the first weekly bitcoin purchase since late August, three months after Strategy sold 32 bitcoin for $2.5M, its first sale in four years. The two previous updates showed STRC buybacks of $176 million and then $139 million, with no bitcoin bought or sold. The stock reacted fast: MSTR rose 7.4% to $165.2 in pre-market trading and ended the session 9% higher, turning positive for the year.
Operating Cash Now Funds Both the Bitcoin Purchases and the Buyback
Funding tells the story here. The firm left its at-the-market program untouched during the week. Both the bitcoin and the STRC repurchase were paid from cash, and USD Cash fell to $1.05 billion from $1.30 billion a week earlier, a drop of nearly 20%. The USD Reserve slipped to $5.04 billion from $5.10 billion.
STRC is where the buyback lands. The preferred traded at $98.85 in pre-market trading on Monday, against June, when STRC preferred dropped to $83, 17% below par. Buying back paper near par shrinks the dividend bill, since every retired share stops accruing.
The authorizations leave room to continue. Saylor’s company reports $875.1 million still available under its preferred-stock repurchase program and $1.0 billion under its MSTR program. That capacity outruns current cash, so future buybacks depend on how the company refills USD Cash.
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A Bitcoin Rally Turns Strategy’s Book Back Into a Gain
Price action carries the bull case. With bitcoin trading near $85,000 on Monday, Strategy’s holdings were worth about $71.9 billion, against a $63.80 billion cost. That is an unrealized gain of roughly $8.1 billion, on a stack larger than 4% of bitcoin’s 21 million supply cap.
Balance sheet strain also looks lighter than in June. Buying again, while retiring preferred stock without touching the ATM, points to a company choosing to add rather than being forced to sell.
Another treasury joined in the same week. Strive added 1,355 BTC for about $107.7 million, at an average of $79,475, and now holds 26,355 BTC as the fifth-largest public bitcoin holder. Two treasury companies returning in the same week widens the corporate bid beyond a single balance sheet.
A Shrinking Cash Line Leaves Little Room for Error
The bear case sits in the cash column. In three weekly updates, STRC buybacks have consumed $489 million, and USD Cash now stands at $1.05 billion. That averages about $163 million a week. At that pace, $1.05 billion of cash covers roughly six more weeks of buybacks, before any new bitcoin purchase.
Priorities have also shifted before. In August, Saylor said buybacks could wait as cash hit $4.8B. The company has since spent heavily on them, so investors read each weekly 8-K for the next change of stance. A sharp drop in bitcoin would turn the $8.1 billion gain into a thin cushion, while the dividend and interest bill keeps running.
More to come.
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