MicroStrategy chief executive Michael Saylor is expected to step down from his current position and to take the reins as the company’s executive chairman. The new position will help Saylor focus more on the firm’s Bitcoin acquisition strategy.
Since establishing MicroStrategy in 1989, Saylor has served as the CEO and chairman. Phong Le is set to become MicroStrategy’s CEO on August 8. He described the leadership shuffle as business-as-usual transition. Le, who joined MicroStrategy in 2015 as the chief financial officer and chief operating officer, has no plans to make any significant changes to the company.
Saylor said the firm has carefully considered the matter of CEO succession and has planned for at the board level for many years. In a statement during the company’s earnings call on Tuesday, he said splitting the roles of chairman and the CEO will enable MicroStrategy to better pursue the two corporate strategies of acquiring and holding Bitcoin. He also wants the firm to grow its enterprise analytics software business. Le said MicroStrategy seeks to acquire and hold Bitcoin long-term, but there are no current plans to engage in sales of BTC. He highlighted that the firm has a long-term time horizon. The core business has not been affected by the near-term price fluctuations of Bitcoin.
MicroStrategy has purchased 129,699 Bitcoin, since August 2020, at an average price of $30,664 a coin. Its total Bitcoin holdings was worth around $8 billion when BTC hit an all-time high of $68,000 in November 2021. But now with the crypto market in a slumber and Bitcoin trading at $23,000, its holdings are worth $2.9 billion.
