Michael Saylor

I sent a text message to all the officers of the company and all the directors. I said, I want you to watch these three videos on YouTube. And I want you to read this paper about Bitcoin. John Pfeffer wrote a paper, an institutional investor's view of Bitcoin. I said, read this stuff, and then we're going to talk. And so after they read it, I had a one-on-one with each one of them.

I sent a text message to all the officers of the company and all the directors. I said, I want you to watch these three videos on YouTube. And I want you to read this paper about Bitcoin. John Pfeffer wrote a paper, an institutional investor's view of Bitcoin. I said, read this stuff, and then we're going to talk. And so after they read it, I had a one-on-one with each one of them.

And it was like... It was like basically doing the rounds, every officer of the company, every director of the company, and gradually we formed a consensus. We formed teams. We started to power forward.

And it was like... It was like basically doing the rounds, every officer of the company, every director of the company, and gradually we formed a consensus. We formed teams. We started to power forward.

And then you present it to the clients. Hey, here's what we're thinking about doing. This is the direction we're going. Is that what the next move was?

And then you present it to the clients. Hey, here's what we're thinking about doing. This is the direction we're going. Is that what the next move was?

You know, it takes from March all the way to August 10th of 2020. And on August 10th of 2020, what we did is we said, hey, we're buying $250 million of Bitcoin, but we're also going to buy back $250 million of our stock in a tender offer. The stock was like 120. This is like $12 post split. And we offered a premium. We said, well, you can tender your shares if you don't like the Bitcoin strategy.

You know, it takes from March all the way to August 10th of 2020. And on August 10th of 2020, what we did is we said, hey, we're buying $250 million of Bitcoin, but we're also going to buy back $250 million of our stock in a tender offer. The stock was like 120. This is like $12 post split. And we offered a premium. We said, well, you can tender your shares if you don't like the Bitcoin strategy.

And so that took 20 days. So the way that we actually rotated the shareholder base and got the shareholders on board with the Bitcoin strategy was we said, we're doing this. We know it's risky. We know some of you may not like it. We'll buy you out at a premium if you don't want to go along for the ride. After 20 days, only about $60 million got tendered. So we had $175 million of cash left.

And so that took 20 days. So the way that we actually rotated the shareholder base and got the shareholders on board with the Bitcoin strategy was we said, we're doing this. We know it's risky. We know some of you may not like it. We'll buy you out at a premium if you don't want to go along for the ride. After 20 days, only about $60 million got tendered. So we had $175 million of cash left.

And so we went from 250 to 425 million in Bitcoin. Then the stock rallied, generated a lot more cash from stock option issuance. We bought another $50 million of Bitcoin. And pretty soon we're off to the races and the strategy is working. And all of our investors were on the board.

And so we went from 250 to 425 million in Bitcoin. Then the stock rallied, generated a lot more cash from stock option issuance. We bought another $50 million of Bitcoin. And pretty soon we're off to the races and the strategy is working. And all of our investors were on the board.

They wanted to be invested in a company on a Bitcoin strategy more than they wanted to be invested in a company that was going to continue with a conventional low growth approach.

They wanted to be invested in a company on a Bitcoin strategy more than they wanted to be invested in a company that was going to continue with a conventional low growth approach.

Let me ask you, how big... of a victory was when he talked about the red wave when Trump won. And how different would the climate be today? Bitcoin right now is at what? 90, 91,000, 92,000, 89,000, whatever the number is. How 90,000, 711, how different would it have been if it was a Kamala victory?

Let me ask you, how big... of a victory was when he talked about the red wave when Trump won. And how different would the climate be today? Bitcoin right now is at what? 90, 91,000, 92,000, 89,000, whatever the number is. How 90,000, 711, how different would it have been if it was a Kamala victory?

I think if you look at the difference between a red wave and a blue wave, I'll take the blue wave first. If it had been a blue wave, Bitcoin would grind up plus 20, 25%, 30% against resistance. And the rest of the digital assets industry would degrade down 20%. Okay.

I think if you look at the difference between a red wave and a blue wave, I'll take the blue wave first. If it had been a blue wave, Bitcoin would grind up plus 20, 25%, 30% against resistance. And the rest of the digital assets industry would degrade down 20%. Okay.

like every digital exchanges, digital tokens, digital securities, digital currencies, they would degrade and Bitcoin would grind up. And there'll be that tension that you see right now for the last four years where Bitcoin is grudgingly accepted, you know, under protest. And the other ones are being attacked all the time. But I think the red wave was the headwind becomes a tailwind.

like every digital exchanges, digital tokens, digital securities, digital currencies, they would degrade and Bitcoin would grind up. And there'll be that tension that you see right now for the last four years where Bitcoin is grudgingly accepted, you know, under protest. And the other ones are being attacked all the time. But I think the red wave was the headwind becomes a tailwind.