American technology company MicroStrategy could be just like hundreds of its competitors if it weren't for one thing: it currently holds more than 158,000 BTC. What purpose do they serve, being kept off the market? How ambitious are the plans of Michael Saylor, the company's founder? Let’s find out in our new article about MicroStrategy.
Who is Michael Saylor?
Michael Saylor is known as one of Bitcoin's crypto whales. Since 2020, while serving as the CEO of MicroStrategy, he has been accumulating assets of the world's first cryptocurrency. By 2023, his company had become the largest global holder of Bitcoin.
Saylor was born in 1965 in the state of Nebraska. He graduated from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) and simultaneously worked at the consulting firm The Federal Group, later joining DuPont. The skills, connections, and resources that he found during his education were enough for Saylor to start his own business.
MicroStrategy's history
In 1989, Saylor, along with partners Sanju Bansal and Thomas Spahr, founded a company to assist in business analytics. The project was named MicroStrategy and rapidly accumulated capital from its earliest months of existence.
The company produced software for intelligent data analysis. Here, a new approach to business analytics was developed – Saylor and Sanju created Relational Online Analytical Processing (ROLAP).
In 1992, the company signed a $10 million partnership contract with McDonald's. This was MicroStrategy's first major client, which significantly increased its revenues. By 2000, according to the Washingtonian newspaper, Michael Saylor's net worth was estimated at $7 billion.
In August 2022, Michael Saylor stepped down as the CEO of MicroStrategy. According to CNBC, he now wants to focus on developing a new financial strategy for the company and prepare for the implementation of innovations. Currently, the position of MicroStrategy's CEO is held by specialist Fong Le, while Saylor is listed as the executive chairman.
The current state of business
As of now, MicroStrategy is one of the largest companies in America providing services in business analytics, software, and cloud services.
The launch of MicroStrategy's analytical platform, MicroStrategy ONE, allowed the integration of artificial intelligence for processing large volumes of data. This has become the company's flagship product. Among the clients of MicroStrategy ONE are market giants such as Sony and Visa.
MicroStrategy ONE assists its clients in:
- Developing corporate applications;
- Setting up automated report and alert distributions;
- Creating interactive dashboards.
Lately, the most significant interest has been garnered by the MacroStrategy division. It holds the digital assets owned by MicroStrategy.
MicroStrategy and cryptocurrency
In 2020, MicroStrategy became the first public company to invest in Bitcoin. Its actions prompted other major institutional investors to pay attention to cryptocurrency. Later, corporate giants like Tesla and Square supported this initiative and joined the ranks of cryptocurrency investors.
The initial intent behind purchasing Bitcoin was for Saylor to protect his reserves and safeguard funds from inflation. In 2020, MicroStrategy held 17,732 BTC.
Saylor was quickly dubbed a Bitcoin maximalist due to his unwavering enthusiasm for cryptocurrencies. His belief in the BTC did not disappear even during Bitcoin's downtrend. Saylor continued to buy Bitcoin.
Saylor's confidence has influenced MicroStrategy's activities. Following his directives, the company accumulated 158,245 BTC by October 2023, which, at the current market rate, roughly equates to $4.28 billion.
Conclusion
MicroStrategy's policies are closely tied to Bitcoin. The company's stocks strongly correlate with BTC quotes, and Bitcoin remains a highly volatile asset. That’s why investing in MicroStrategy today may carry significant risks, mainly due to this instability. Any fluctuations in the price of the BTC would instantly affect MicroStrategy's stocks, either positively or negatively. Such a perspective might not be suitable for every investor.
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