Michael Saylor, the co-founder of MicroStrategy, is selling $216 million worth of company shares, according to Filing. The firm had previously stated that part of the funds would be used to acquire more bitcoin. On January 2, Saylor announced, while filing with the United States Securities and Exchange Commission, that he had already started selling the firm’s stock. He sold 315,000 stock options, granted to him on April 4, 2014. According to the filing, Michael Saylor began selling his first 5,000 shares on January 2nd, planning to sell his option award between January 2nd and April 25th.
During the third quarter of the 2023 call, Michael Saylor announced that he would be selling 5,000 of the firm’s shares on a trading day for the next four months. This was first disclosed in that quarter’s 10-Q filing, indicating that he could sell up to 400,000 shares of his vested options through April 26. Michael Saylor mentioned during the call that “The move would allow him to address his “personal obligations” and, of course, buy more Bitcoin.” He went on to state that his equity in the company remains significant despite his sales.
MicroStrategy remains the largest corporate holder of Bitcoin, owning 189,000 bitcoins in its treasure after its last purchase in December, valued at $8.54 billion at the current price. In the previous year, Bitcoin recorded an impressive growth of 170%; however, MicroStrategy outperformed the asset by almost three times, recording 411% growth since the beginning of 2023.
The SEC could Reject the ETF if They Want More Time
As the January 10 deadline approaches, the Security and Exchange Commission (SEC) may take more time to approve a spot Bitcoin ETF, claiming that they still have a lot of paperwork to go through. The cryptocurrency community is speculating that the announcement will come late this week or early next week. According to Bloomberg ETF analyst Eric Balchunas, ETF rejection by the SEC might come differently. He said, “While it is unlikely, there is still a chance that the SEC could hand down the rug pull of the decade.”
Balchunas went on and announced on the X (formerly known as Twitter) that “we haven’t gone further than 90% due to the possibility of the SEC delivering a significant decision. While he doesn’t think there will be a full denial, he adds that the 10% chance includes both approval and denial scenarios.