Tesla Sells, Michael Saylor Steps Down, Can it Get Worse? – Trustnodes

The chief cheerleaders of bitcoin are getting rekt, and some of them are out or halfway there as Michael Saylor is the latest to depart from MicroStrategy as CEO after 33 years of running the company as both the Chief Executive Officer and Chairman of the Board. Now he is just the Chairman.

“As Executive Chairman I will be able to focus more on our bitcoin acquisition strategy and related bitcoin advocacy initiatives, while Phong will be empowered as CEO to manage overall corporate operations,” Saylor said.

Phong Le will be the new CEO and President after serving as Chief Financial Officer, a role that included an explanation as to why MicroStrategy won’t get liquidated on their bitcoin loan.

“I would like to reinforce our commitment to our customers, shareholders, partners and employees, and I look forward to leading the organization for the long-term health and growth of our enterprise software and bitcoin acquisition strategies,” Le said.

The 129,218 bitcoin bought over about two years at a cost of $4 billion are now worth about $3 billion, with MicroStrategy reporting “impairment losses on MicroStrategy’s digital assets, which were $917.8 million during the second quarter of 2022.”

Pretty bleak, with the second biggest cheerleader down after Tesla sold 75% of their bitcoin holding, but Saylor is not quite out, stating:

“Since MicroStrategy adopted a Bitcoin Strategy, its enterprise value is up +730% (+$5 billion) and $MSTR is up +123%. Performance of BTC is +94%, S&P 500 +23%, Nasdaq +13%, Gold -13%, Bonds -14%, Silver -29%. GOOG +54%, AAPL +43%, MSFT +34%, AMZN -14%, META -39%, NFLX -53%.”

From a stock strategy, this little known company is now pretty well known, with its price of circa $140 in 2020 now still double at $280.

It went above $1,000 at the end of last year, and the company itself is still making profits, $96 million for the second quarter.

But the bet is maybe a bit too much as they took quite a bit of debt. That’s at interest, with any astute investor wondering, even in far better times, whether they were investing what they could afford to lose.

Still the company is not diverging from its bitcoin strategy, at least not publicly and at least not yet. The bet may even pay off if they can hold through what hopefully is a passed storm. But, there’s the wilderness now, and it may last for another year, and it can still get worse.

Can they hodl? That’s a question for them. For us a better question is: does it matter at this point any more?

Bad news is good news now in this fiat economy, so no one cried when Tesla announced they sold and bitcoin is up today 2.7% on the news that Saylor is not quite but sort of out.

Because at some point, any astute investor will ask who is left to sell. In theory, the answer is of course everyone, but in practice, the answer at this point is far, far less than did sell.

The lesson here for the class of 2020 is that ‘don’t invest anymore than you can afford to lose’ is not just words, but a lesson from experience because bitcoin can be brutal.

The lesson for class of 2013 is that cheerleaders come and go. Rare are those that stay and few do without getting some very clear eyes after the initial euphoric delusion where bitcoin, or crypto, is the perfect answer to all things.

Yet one can’t stop being amazed at just how perfectly it repeats, including the liquidation of some of that class of 2013. The one that didn’t stick to the well travelled road.

But plenty take that new path, and some even build a new road, with bitcoin fitting better to the needs of the globe in both bull and bear, the more it survives both.

So goodbye to cheerleaders and hello once again to the builders.