Strategy Prioritizes STRC Buybacks Over Bitcoin Purchases
Michael Saylor’s Strategy shifted its spending priorities last week, allocating significantly more funds to repurchasing its preferred stock, STRC, than to buying Bitcoin (BTC). The company acquired 334 BTC for $28.7 million, increasing its total holdings to 848,000 BTC. Simultaneously, Strategy repurchased about 1.77 million shares of STRC preferred stock for $176.3 million, highlighting a strategic pivot in capital allocation.
This move comes as Strategy seeks shareholder approval to overhaul dividend payments across its preferred-stock lineup. A separate proxy filing on Monday proposed paying regular dividends on STRC, STRF, STRK, and STRD every business day, replacing STRC’s twice-monthly schedule and quarterly payments for the other three stocks. The company assured that dividend rates and overall payment obligations would remain unchanged, but the changes could improve liquidity and price stability. Shareholders will vote on the proposal at a special meeting on October 28, with STRC’s daily schedule set to begin in November and the others in January.
Strategy’s Bitcoin holdings grew just 0.2% in the third quarter, as sales offset most of its purchases. The company acquired 7,218 BTC during the quarter while selling 5,553 BTC, leaving it with 847,666 BTC at the end of September. This marked a sharp slowdown in net accumulation from the previous quarter, when Bitcoin holdings increased nearly 11%. The net increase of 1,666 BTC in Q3 was worth about $143 million, compared to approximately $1.38 billion spent repurchasing STRC during the same period.
Despite the slowdown in Bitcoin accumulation, Strategy reported a preliminary $20.91 billion gain on its digital assets for the quarter, largely due to an increase in the fair value of its existing Bitcoin holdings. As of Monday, Strategy’s MSTR shares were up 2.9% in premarket activity at $164.60, while STRC traded near its $100 stated amount at $99.45. Bitcoin was trading around $86,063 at the time of publication.