Michael Saylor, CEO of MicroStrategy, famous for his “bitcoin debt”, eventually resigned after losing $917.8 million from his coin investment.
According to a statement released by MicroStrategy on the 2nd (local time), Michael Saylor will step down as CEO and Phong Le, the current president of the company, will replace him. Instead of stepping down as CEO, Sailor will serve as chairman of the board and focus on the strategy of buying and holding Bitcoin (BTC).
The company said, “By separating the roles of chairman and CEO, we will be able to better drive two corporate strategies: investing in Bitcoin and growing our software business.”
Saylor, who served as CEO for over 30 years since 1989, stepped down because of his Bitcoin investment loss. Saylor, along with Tesla CEO Elon Musk, is famous as a ‘big hand’ in the Bitcoin market.
He co-founded and operated MicroStrategy, an information analysis software developer. Since August 2020, it has been steadily purchasing Bitcoin and is considered one of the companies that has invested the most Bitcoin among American companies. Currently, the total number of Bitcoins held by MicroStrategy is 129,699 BTC, with an average purchase price of $3664.
However, the company faced a crisis as the price of Bitcoin recently plummeted, trading in the $23,000 range. MicroStrategy’s stock is down more than 48% this year, while Bitcoin is down more than 51%.
The company lost $917.8 million, mostly due to the bitcoin plunge. However, it appears that MicroStrategy will not stop buying Bitcoin.
As Saylor is only in charge of Bitcoin-related strategies, it is highly likely that he will continue to buy. It seems that the advocacy of Bitcoin on SNS (social network service) will continue.
Saylor, citing the Bitcoin Mining Council report on SNS on the 20th of last month, said, “Bitcoin mining efficiency has increased by 46% compared to the same period of the previous year, and the rate of using sustainable energy for mining has reached 59.5%.” The industry is hard to find,” he said. He defended bitcoin by countering the point that bitcoin mining has adverse environmental impacts.
In many cases, the returns were compared with other assets. On the 23rd of last month, Saylor also stated that “As of August 2020, when MicroStrategy first bought Bitcoin, the share price of MicroStrategy has risen 128% and the price of Bitcoin has risen 91%.” By contrast, gold fell 15%, Amazon shares fell 22%, and Netflix shares fell 54%.
