MicroStrategy Buys 17,994 Bitcoin for $1.28 Billion

MicroStrategy, the business intelligence firm led by Executive Chairman Michael Saylor, acquired 17,994 Bitcoin for approximately 1.28 billion dollars last week, boosting its cryptocurrency reserves to a record 738,731 coins. The purchase, detailed in a filing with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission on Monday, occurred between March 2 and March 8 at an average price of 70,946 dollars per Bitcoin, below the company's overall average acquisition cost of 75,862 dollars.

The transaction marks MicroStrategy's largest Bitcoin buy since January, when it added 22,305 coins for 2.13 billion dollars at an average of 95,284 dollars each. Funding for the latest acquisition came primarily from equity sales, including 900 million dollars raised through at-the-market offerings of Class A common stock and 377 million dollars from its variable-rate Stretch preferred stock, known as STRC. These proceeds align with the company's ongoing strategy to finance Bitcoin purchases via stock issuances rather than debt, with billions more in securities still available under its programs.

MicroStrategy's holdings, now valued at a total cost of 56.04 billion dollars, represent about 3.7 percent of...