Strategy spent roughly $25 million last week buying back its own STRC perpetual preferred stock, retiring shares that had been trading below their $100 stated amount. The buyback, conducted between July 20 and July 26, also marked a rare pause in the company's Bitcoin accumulation — it didn't buy any BTC during that period and instead grew its cash reserves.
How the buyback worked
Strategy purchased 288,930 shares of STRC at an average price of $86.52, for a total of about $24.998 million. The shares carried a stated amount of $28.893 million, meaning the company retired $28.9 million of liabilities for roughly $25 million. That $3.895 million difference flows directly into common equity — a boost for MSTR shareholders.
On top of that, retiring those shares eliminates about $3.47 million in annual dividend obligations, based on STRC's 12% annualized dividend rate. Less fixed cost on the books, more room for the common.
Why STRC was below par
STRC, Strategy's flagship credit security, had fallen below its $100 stated amount back in June 2026. That made it a candidate for repurchase under the company's Digital Credit Capital Framework, announced on June 29. The framework authorizes up to $1 billion in repurchases across four securities: STRC, STRF, STRD, and STRK. This week's action is the first disclosed use of that authority.
Strategy didn't buy any Bitcoin during the buyback window. Instead, it let its cash pile grow — a shift from the relentless BTC buying that has defined the company's treasury strategy for years.
Retiring preferred stock below its notional value is accretive to common equity because it reduces senior claims on the company's assets. Strategy's 'Net Bitcoin Per Share' metric — calculated as (Bitcoin holdings minus bitcoin-equivalent value of out-of-the-money convertible debt, other debt-like instruments, and outstanding perpetual preferred stock, plus USD Reserve) divided by fully diluted common shares — gets a direct lift from this kind of liability management.
The company also revised its mNAV methodology this week, using Net BPS as the denominator with a boundary date of July 23. That change aligns the valuation framework with the same liability-reduction logic.
The Digital Credit Capital Framework still has nearly $975 million in authorization left. Strategy could continue buying back STRC or pivot to its other perpetual preferred series. The company hasn't said whether it will resume Bitcoin purchases, but the cash buildup during the buyback period suggests it's keeping options open.
The revised mNAV methodology, effective July 23, will be the metric investors watch to gauge how liability management affects the common equity story going forward.
