Business analytics company MicroStrategy announced that it just made another major acquisition, buying a further $15 million worth of bitcoins for an average price of $57,146, including fees.
MicroStrategy’s stock was listed at $763 during the early morning session Friday and settled at $804 at press time — as bitcoin (BTC) hit a new all-time high at $61,073.71 on Saturday, adding $3,802.67 to its previous close.
The business analytics company said it now owns about 91,326 BTCs, which it bought for $2.21 billion at an average price of $24,214 per unit. At current prices, its BTC holding would be worth more than $5 billion.
Heavy BTC buying
MicroStrategy’s stock has rallied almost 182% over the last three months, while bitcoin has run more than 210%, and the S&P 500 has soared 7.6%.
While more than 21 publicly listed companies have now disclosed that a chunk of their treasury reserves has been set aside for bitcoin, MicroStrategy’s holdings far surpass them – the company owns just under 0.5% of bitcoin’s total supply.
MicroStrategy chief executive Michael Saylor has long been a believer in cryptocurrencies, and particularly bitcoin. He even held a conference called “bitcoin for corporations” on February 4 to entice more institutional investors.
MicroStrategy CEO is worth $3 billion
The CEO said he conducted the conference by “popular demand” after receiving so many questions from fellow CEOs with regards to his company’s massive bitcoin buying.
Saylor is currently worth $3 billion, according to the Bloomberg Billionaires Index.
Bitcoin has skyrocketed 964% over the last 12 months, figures by Coinbase show. Its value exceeded $1 trillion last week for the second time this year. The digital currency’s growth is driven in part by rising adoption by prominent institutional investors and speculative demand.
Since MicroStrategy’s initial investment in August last year, the price of BTC has rallied by more than 400%. However, the company continued its strategic Bitcoin acquisition even at these considerably higher price points.
Image courtesy of MicroStrategy/YouTube Screenshot