MicroStrategy’s gamble on Bitcoin is getting bigger.
The publicly traded mobile software company, in an 8-K filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission, said it had purchased another 7,002 Bitcoin during its fiscal fourth quarter. That cost the company $414.4 million.
MicroStrategy says it paid an average of $59,187 per Bitcoin. That’s about $2,000 above where Bitcoin is currently trading.
The purchase brings MicroStrategy’s total Bitcoin holdings to 121,044 on expenditures of $3.57 billion. Based on the average purchase price of its portfolio, approximately $29,534 per Bitcoin, the company has unrealized gains of nearly $3.4 billion on its cryptocurrency holdings.
As one of the few publicly traded companies that has tied its value so close to the volatile digital currency, MicroStrategy stock is often affected by Bitcoin’s volatility. Other companies, including PepsiCo, say there’s no way they would park cash in Bitcoin, pointing to the risk and potential other uses for the money.
MicroStrategy’s push for Bitcoin comes as the company itself reports growing financial losses. In the third fiscal quarter, it saw net losses nearly double compared with a year ago, surging to $36.1 million. In the first six months of this year, the company has lost $409 million pretax.
Not only is the company investing heavily in Bitcoin, but CEO Michael Saylor does as well. In late October, he announced he personally has 17,732 Bitcoin in his wallet, which he bought for an average of $9,882 each. That brings his personal unrealized gains to over $840 million.
MicroStrategy shares were up more than 4% in premarket trading Monday.
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