MicroStrategy CEO Saylor Resigns After 33 Years

MicroStrategy Founder Michael Saylor stepped down as CEO of the company after 33 years. In the statement made by the firm, it was stated that as the chairman of Saylor's board of directors, he will focus on long-term strategies and the company's Bitcoin purchases.

The change came after MicroStrategy announced a loss of $1 billion in the second quarter of the year. Under the leadership of Saylor, MicroStrategy, the first publicly traded company to add Bitcoin to its balance sheet 2 years ago, lost $ 917.8 million in the April-June 2022 period due to the depreciation of Bitcoins in its vault. Bitcoin fell 55 percent in the quarter in question.

Business intelligence and software firm MicroStrategy announced that the company's Founder, Michael Saylor, has resigned from his position as CEO since 1989. According to the statement made by the company, Saylor was appointed as the Chairman of MicroStrategy, while Phong Le became the new CEO. Thus, for the first time in the company, two separate roles as CEO and chairman of the board were determined.

In the MicroStrategy statement, it was stated that the company has become a global leader in its field under Saylor's leadership, "The company has also become a technology pioneer in the fields of web, mobile and cloud.

Recently, MicroStrategy became the first publicly traded company to add Bitcoin, a revolutionary financial technology, to its balance sheet. As chairman of the board, Saylar will focus on long-term strategies and innovation. In addition, as the Chairman of the Investment Committee, he will continue to determine the Bitcoin purchase strategy of the company.

Focus on Two Goals at the Same Time

Saylor, whose views were included in the statement, said, "Separating the roles of chairman and CEO will allow us to pursue our growth goals in both Bitcoin holding and enterprise analytics software at the same time. As the chairman of the board, I will focus more on Bitcoin buying strategies. Phong is the general corporate enterprise. will carry out the activity," he said.

Joining MicroStrategy in 2015, Phong Le has held senior positions at the company, including CFO and COO.

Finally, MicroStrategy, which announced its financial results for the second quarter of 2022, made a loss of 1 billion 62 million dollars in the said quarter. $ 917.8 million of this loss came from the loss of value in Bitcoins held by the company.

At the beginning of the second quarter, that is, on April 1, Bitcoin was trading at $ 44,750. At the end of June, it fell to $20,000. In other words, the 3-month loss was 55.3 percent.

Has 129,699 Bitcoins

MicroStrategy, which has been buying Bitcoin since the summer of 2020, has 129,699 Bitcoins as of June 30, 2022. The company has lost a total of 1 billion 989 million dollars from Bitcoin investments to date.

As of today, the total value of Bitcoins held by MicroStrategy is approximately 3 billion dollars. Although Bitcoin has increased by 23 percent as of today from its $ 17,700 level in June, it has lost 51 percent in value throughout the year. MicroStrategy shares are also down 50.1% so far across 2022.

Shares of MicroStrategy tumbled 1.6 percent in pre-opening trading after financial results and Saylor's resignation were announced. The firm's market capitalization was $3.03 billion. In addition to adding Bitcoin to the balance sheet of Michael Saylor, he often comes to the fore with his price predictions.

$6 Million Estimated

Saylor made an interesting prediction last December when Bitcoin was hovering around $50,000.

Stating that he expects Bitcoin to reach a value of $ 6 million at some point, Saylor did not say when he expects this prediction to come true. In the said interview, he shared the information that he personally has 17,732 Bitcoins.