Key Takeaways
- The co-founder and Bitcoin advocate of Microstrategy, Michael Saylor has stepped as CEO.
- He is now going to serve as executive chairman.
The co-founder and Bitcoin advocate of MicroStrategy, Michael Saylor, will now serve as executive chairman of the business after resigning as CEO. Because Saylor believes in it, the organization has evolved into a holding company for Bitcoin.
The announcement was made when the company reported its second-quarter earnings. It revealed a loss of $1.06 billion, principally as a result of an impairment charge of $917 million based on the value of its Bitcoin holdings, which have drastically decreased in value since the cryptocurrency's price peaked in November of last year.
Read: How to Buy Bitcoin with MPESA (The Easiest Way)
Michael Saylor Occupies a New Position
Saylor will be replaced as CEO by MicroStrategy's existing president, Phong Le. In a statement to shareholders, Le expressed that he's enthusiastic about taking the helm of the business to ensure the long-term viability and expansion of their enterprise software and bitcoin acquisition methods. MicroStrategy bought $250 million worth of Bitcoin in 2020, and as of June 30th, 2022, it reports holding a $1.988 billion price of Bitcoin.
Saylor will continue to "give oversight of the Company's bitcoin acquisition strategy as head of the Board's Investments Committee," according to MicroStrategy's announcement to investors. Saylor has led MicroStrategy since he launched the business in 1989; thus, it's unclear what caused the organizational change.
Saylor expressed his belief that dividing the roles of Chairman and CEO will enable the company to pursue better their two corporate strategies of acquiring and holding bitcoin and growing their enterprise analytics software business. He further said his role as the Executive Chairman would help him focus more on their bitcoin acquisition strategy and related bitcoin advocacy initiatives. At the same time, Phong, as CEO, will have enough power and resources to manage overall corporate operations.
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Saylor revealed in April that MicroStrategy would be the first organization to use Fidelity's Bitcoin-based 401(k) retirement plan for its staff.
Since the Securities and Exchange Commission had a problem with the way the company represented its Bitcoin holdings in one of its 2021 filings, MicroStrategy has been the focus of an investigation. Using non-GAAP measurements, which are not based on generally accepted accounting principles, Microstrategy recognized its Bitcoin assets, according to Bloomberg Tax (GAAP). Business entities seldom employ non-GAAP methods.
In 2000, MicroStrategy was also the focus of an SEC inquiry over claims of civil accounting fraud. The company's revenue and earnings were allegedly overstated by Saylor and his top executives from the time it went public in June 1998 through March 2000, according to the SEC. No one involved in the $11 million settlement between Saylor and the organization—including two of his executives—" admitted or denied the Commission's claims.
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MicroStrategy has a history of altering changes, and this new development treads on the path of another. Hopefully, this sends down a ripple of other positive realities.
What other developments do you think this change will lead to? Please share your thoughts with us in the comment section.
