Successfully Running MicroStrategy For 3 Decades, Saylor Steps Down As CEO After Firm Bears Huge Bitcoin Losses

Microstrategy’s Michael Saylor is stepping down as CEO to concentrate on Bitcoin advocacy as company chairman.

Please join the @MicroStrategy management team at 5pm ET as we discuss our Q2 2022 financial results, executive transition, and answer questions about our business and outlook for #BusinessIntelligence and #Bitcoin. $MSTRhttps://t.co/SxAjhbM9WD

— Michael Saylor⚡️ (@saylor) August 2, 2022

Microstrategy is perhaps one of the largest crypto-buying companies in the world. The company started buying Bitcoin back in 2020 when founder and CEO Michael Saylor realized that cryptos like BTC are a viable hedge against inflation.

While the company was initially a software creator, Michael’s leadership saw it diversify its business to include crypto investments. It was one of the largest Bitcoin buyers; as of now, Microstrategy holds around 129,699.

Current Company President To Take Over CEO Role

Microstrategy is a business intelligence firm co-founded by Saylor in 1989; now, after three decades at the top helm of the company, Michael is leaving the CEO role to become chairman. Meanwhile, the current company president Phong Lee will take over as CEO. The company announced the news via its official website.

Lee said: “I’m honored and excited to continue leading this truly innovative organization, as President & CEO… I look forward to leading the organization for the long-term health and growth of our enterprise software and bitcoin acquisition strategies.”

Saylor To Increase Crypto Advocacy Efforts

After stepping down as CEO, Michael Saylor plans to ramp up his Bitcoin advocacy and focus on promoting the company’s efforts in accumulating Bitcoin. This move will create two separate centers of focus for the company. The chairman will handle the BTC field while the CEO will concentrate on the company’s original objective of building software products.

Michael said,

“I believe that splitting the roles of Chairman and CEO will enable us to better pursue our two corporate strategies of acquiring and holding bitcoin and growing our enterprise analytics software business.”

This change comes as the company releases its financial results for the second quarter of 2022, revealing that the company has incurred a loss of $1 billion due to the fall of Bitcoin’s price over the last few months.

According to Wu Blockchain: “As of June 30, 2022, the carrying value of MicroStrategy’s digital assets (129,699 bitcoins) was $1.988b, which reflects cumulative impairment losses of $1.989 billion since acquisition and an average carrying amount per bitcoin of approximately $15,326.”

However, it’s not clear whether the Q2 results influenced Michaels’s decision to leave the CEO post or not.

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