Michael Saylor, the billionaire Bitcoin investor who founded the company he co-founded, Microstrategyinto a high-risk cryptocurrency proxy was encouraging Microsoft to use some of his huge cash hoard to follow his example.
But on Tuesday, after he presented a proposal at Microsoft's annual general meeting, shareholders rejected it.
In October, Microsoft told investors that the National Center for Public Policy Research, a conservative think tank, plans to submit a shareholder proposal recommending that the software company's board consider diversifying its balance sheet with Bitcoin.
Saylor, now chairman of MicroStrategy, has seen his company's stock price rise nearly 500% this year as it bought billions of dollars Bitcoin.
“Microsoft cannot afford to miss the next wave of technology, and Bitcoin is that wave,” Saylor said in a video presentation he posted on X last week. The post has more than 3 million views.
In his three-minute presentation, Saylor showed a chart showing that Bitcoin returned 62% annually between August 2020 and November 2024, compared to 18% for Microsoft and 14% for the S&P 500. Bonds as an asset class have lost 5% , says the presentation.
“You can convert your cash flows, your dividends, your buybacks and your debt into Bitcoin,” Saylor said. “If you do that, you increase the stock price by hundreds of dollars.”
Tuesday's virtual appearance wasn't the first time Saylor made the pitch to Microsoft, which had $78.4 billion in cash, equivalents and short-term investments at the end of September.
Microsoft said in its October proxy filing that its treasury and investment services team had previously evaluated Bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies to fund the company's operations and reduce economic risk, and “continue to monitor related trends and developments.” with cryptocurrencies to make future decisions.”
A day later, Saylor addressed Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella directly on X.
“Hey @SatyaNadella, if you want to make the next trillion dollars for $MSFT shareholders, call me,” Saylor wrote.
The proposal failed to gain support from the majority of voting shareholders after Microsoft recommended they reject it. Proxy advisors Glass Lewis and Institutional Shareholder Services also suggested a no vote.
Microsoft began accepting cryptocurrencies for customer payments in 2014, Microsoft Chief Financial Officer Amy Hood said in response to a shareholder question during Tuesday's meeting. “We continue to think about the development of crypto,” she said.
Microsoft shares have gained around 19% so far this year, well below MicroStrategy's performance.
But Saylor has tied his company, now worth about $83 billion, directly to the fortunes of Bitcoin. In mid-2020, the company, which was a middling software company, announced its plan to invest in Bitcoin, saying in an earnings release that it would invest $250 million in “one or more alternative assets” over the next 12 months could include digital currencies like Bitcoin. At that time, MicroStrategy's market capitalization was approximately $1.1 billion.
As of December 8, MicroStrategy and its subsidiaries owned a total of approximately 423,650 Bitcoins, acquired at a total cost of approximately $26.5 billion. With Bitcoin trading at $95,000, these holdings are worth over $41.3 billion.
MicroStrategy has sold shares and taken on debt to finance its Bitcoin purchases. The company announced on November 21 that it had completed a $3 billion convertible note sale “to acquire additional Bitcoins and for general corporate purposes.”
Saylor's net worth has risen to $9.1 billion, according to Forbes, largely due to his stake in MicroStrategy.
REGARD: Michael Saylor on MicroStrategy and Bitcoin
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