$2.2 Trillion Asset Manager Buys 12% Stake in Michael Saylor’s MicroStrategy

A few weeks after the initial filing with the US Securities and Exchange Commission, Capital Group’s allocation in MicroStrategy has become official. The giant financial firm with over $2 trillion in AUM has bought nearly 1,000,000 shares in the business intelligence company holding more than 100,000 bitcoins on its balance sheet.

• The financial services company based in Los Angeles, California, filed with the SEC in late June but Walter Burkley, the Senior Vice President at the firm, made it official on July 12th.
• Consequently, Capital Group, through its private equity firm Capital International Investors, has purchased a 12.2% stake (953,242 shares) in MicroStrategy – the company founded and run by one of the most prominent Bitcoin bulls – Michael Saylor.
• Thus, the financial services giant will receive indirect exposure to BTC by investing a considerable amount in MicroStrategy.
• The NASDAQ-listed business intelligence firm began its bitcoin accumulation in August 2020 with a $240 million purchase.
• It only intensified its buying endeavors since then. The company even raised funds by selling billions of dollars worth of its Class A common stocks to allocate in the primary cryptocurrency.
• Less than a year after the first purchase, MicroStrategy owns 105,085 bitcoins worth more than $3.4 billion as of today’s prices. From another perspective, Michael Saylor’s firm holds 0.56 of all tokens currently in circulation.
• Additionally, the company started paying its non-executive board members in bitcoin shortly after becoming a node on the network and making BTC its treasury reserve asset.
• Furthermore, MicroStrategy and its CEO held a Bitcoin Conference to educate corporations on bitcoin’s benefits and why it should be put on balance sheets.

Featured Image Courtesy of FT