Microstrategy’s executive chairman, Michael Saylor, is selling $216 million of his company’s shares, according to a filing with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The pro-bitcoin executive intends to use some of the proceeds to acquire additional bitcoin for his personal holdings.
Michael Saylor Plans to Buy More Bitcoin for Himself
Microstrategy (Nasdaq: MSTR)’s executive chairman, Michael Saylor, plans to sell 315,000 shares of his company’s common stock worth $216 million, according to a filing with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) on Jan. 2.
Microstrategy previously disclosed Saylor’s plan to sell up to 400,000 shares of company stock over four months. In its November 10-Q filing with the SEC, the Nasdaq-listed firm explained that the pre-arranged 10b5-1 trading plan, triggered by a stock option that expires on April 30, 2024, involves daily sales of 5,000 shares contingent on a minimum price condition.
During Microstrategy’s Q3 2023 earnings call on Nov. 2, 2023, Saylor explained that he plans to use some of the proceeds to buy more bitcoin for his personal account.
“I was granted a stock option in 2014 with respect to 400,000 shares, which is going to expire next April if I don’t exercise it by then,” the executive chairman began. “For almost a decade now at my request, the company has only paid me a $1 salary and I’ve chosen not to be eligible for any cash bonuses.” Saylor continued:
Exercising this option will allow me to address some financial obligations as well as to acquire additional bitcoin for my personal account.
While Saylor has not disclosed how much bitcoin he owns recently, he said in October 2020 that he personally owns 17,732 BTC. Meanwhile, his software intelligence firm publicly reported holdings of 189,150 bitcoin as of December 2023.