Strategy bought 1,665 Bitcoin for $142.7 million in the week ended Sept. 27, paying an average of $85,681 per coin and pushing its holdings to a record 847,666 BTC. The purchase came a week after it bought 950 BTC for $75.7 million — the first time the company has strung together back-to-back weekly Bitcoin buys since June, and about 75% larger than the prior week's haul.
Including the latest buy, Strategy's stack was acquired for roughly $63.9 billion at an average price of $75,437. At current values the position is worth about $70.7 billion, an unrealized gain of about $6.75 billion, or 10.6%, over aggregate cost.
A six-year climb, and a negative yield
The company has come a long way from the 38,250 BTC it held in September 2020. Its total now sits at 847,666 BTC. So far this year alone, Strategy has added 175,166 BTC.
The yield numbers tell a different story. Strategy's year-to-date BTC yield is -3.7%, with a negative BTC Gain of 25,085 BTC — about -$2.1 billion. Its quarterly BTC Gain stands at -100,275, valued at roughly -$8.37 billion. In plain terms: the company is still buying, but the per-share Bitcoin accretion that management likes to point to has been working against it.
Where the money came from
Strategy didn't fund the buys out of pocket. It sold about 1.47 million MSTR shares through its at-the-market common-stock program, raising $246.2 million in net proceeds. It has another $18.84 billion of issuance capacity under that program.
The company also repurchased about 1.53 million shares of its Variable Rate Series A Perpetual Stretch preferred stock, STRC, for $151.7 million last week. Those repurchases were funded with $103.5 million from MSTR share sales and $48.1 million from its USD Cash balance. Separately, Strategy used $22.1 million from its USD Reserve to meet preferred-stock dividend obligations.
As of Sept. 27, the company had about $1 billion in general-purpose cash and $5 billion in its separate USD Reserve.
STRC claws back to par
STRC has climbed to about $99, close to its $100 stated value, after months of trading below it. The security fell as low as about $71 during Bitcoin's June selloff — a rough stretch for a preferred instrument that currently pays a 12% annual dividend and moved from monthly to twice-monthly payments in June.
Strategy has now spent more than $1 billion repurchasing preferred shares under a $2 billion program. MSTR analyst Zaid estimated last week's STRC repurchases accounted for about 18.9% of the security's total trading volume, down from 22.8% a week earlier. Zaid had expected Strategy to spend between $250 million and $300 million on Bitcoin during the week — roughly twice what the company ultimately deployed.
The daily dividend vote
Strategy has scheduled an Oct. 28 special shareholder meeting to seek approval for daily dividend payments across its four US-listed preferred securities: STRC, STRF, STRK and STRD. Under the proposal, STRC would switch first, with its initial daily-schedule payment expected Nov. 2 for holders of record on Nov. 1.
Bitcoin analyst Mark Harvey said Strategy has now repurchased all the Bitcoin it sold during the quarter and added more, extending its streak of consecutive quarters with net Bitcoin growth to 24.
The next marker is the Oct. 28 vote. If shareholders approve, STRC holders will find out on Nov. 1 whether daily dividends become a reality — and whether the $100 peg holds.
