Michael Saylor interview: How Bitcoin made MicroStrategy a $65b company

The world’s largest corporate holder of Bitcoin, MicroStrategy, has catapulted its once-languishing share price to a market capitalisation of more than $65 billion (US$40b) in just four years.

“Really MicroStrategy is pioneering a new market, we’re issuing securities backed by digital capital,” co-founder and executive chairman Michael Saylor told Markets with Madison in Washington DC.

What is an enterprise software company is now referred to as a Bitcoin development company, due to its holdings of 252,220 Bitcoin. That’s more than 1% of all Bitcoin available, worth around US$16 billion ($26.40b).

Its valuation represented a premium to its Bitcoin assets of 2.5 times – a price some traders shorting the stock believed was too high.

“When I was a younger man I would have been concerned about people shorting my stock, now I’m not, because MicroStrategy is really just providing a set of institutional investments that institutional investors can use to tailor a portfolio that’s long, short, [or] hedged,” Saylor said.

“So, if we didn’t exist, then billions and billions of dollars of capital from the traditional finance markets wouldn’t be invested in Bitcoin.”

To create the funds to acquire more Bitcoin, MicroStrategy had used its Nasdaq-listed stock to issue convertible note offers to investors – a strategy that was often referred to online as an infinite money glitch.

Saylor said that was a misnomer.

“It’s not a money glitch, it’s a digital transformation of the capital markets.”

Watch Michael Saylor discuss his Bitcoin adoption strategy and his company’s rising valuation, in Part One of this Markets with Madison episode above.

Get investment insights from executives and experts on Markets with Madison every Monday and Friday here on the NZ Herald, on YouTube and wherever you get your podcasts.

Sponsored by CMC Markets.

Madison and video producer Corey Fleming travelled from Auckland to New York courtesy of Qantas.

Experience the Qantas difference on travel to North America, including direct flights from Auckland to New York.

Disclaimer: The information provided in this programme is of a general nature, and is not intended to be personalised financial advice. We encourage you to seek appropriate advice from a qualified professional to suit your individual circumstances.

Madison Reidy is the host and executive producer of the NZ Herald’s investment show Markets with Madison. She joined the Herald in 2022 after working in investment, and has covered business and economics for television and radio broadcasters.