(Bloomberg) — MicroStrategy Inc. founder and Chief Executive Officer Michael Saylor has cemented the enterprise-software company’s position as the largest corporate owner of Bitcoin, saying it purchased $414 million more of the largest cryptocurrency during its recent swoon.
The Tysons Corner, Virginia-based company, which has been buying Bitcoin since August 2020, now holds 121,044 tokens valued at about $7 billion, after accounting for its October and November purchases. And if the price of Bitcoin continues to recover losses posted over the Thanksgiving holiday, MicroStrategy will have doubled its money gains based on the average purchase price paid since the initial acquisition.
Shares of MicroStrategy jumped as much as 4.5% to $693 following a tweet Monday from Saylor announcing the purchase, and amid a continuing rebound in the price of Bitcoin. MicroStrategy has surged about 450% since July 2020, while Bitcoin has increased roughly fivefold.
“It’s very clear by looking at MicroStrategy’s valuation now versus when it initiated its Bitcoin acquisition strategy that the plan has worked,” said Mark Palmer, a digital assets and fintech analyst at BTIG who has a buy rating on the company’s shares.
Saylor has become the most prominent pro-crypto CEO by opening the backdoor to crypto investing, effectively creating a proxy out of MicroStrategy’s shares after tapping both equity and debt markets to raise cash to buy more coins. The company has a market value of about $7 billion.
Bitcoin gained about 4% to $58,647 in New York trading. It had climbed as high as almost $69,000 on Nov. 10.
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