Bitcoin
MicroStrategy Sets 10-for-1 Stock Split Four Months After Bitcoin Peak
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Microstrategythe largest corporate holder of bitcoinannounced a 10-for-1 stock split on Thursday.
The company said the shares will be split into Class A common stock and Class B common stock “to make MicroStrategy stock more accessible to investors and employees.” The move comes amid a lull in the price of bitcoin, which has been stuck in a tight range since March but which many investors expect to recover in the second half of the year.
Shares were up about 5% in premarket trading but are currently down about 34% from their all-time high of $1,999.99, reached in March of this year.
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MicroStrategy (MSTR) YTD
MicroStrategy plans to pay a dividend to shareholders on August 1, which will give them 9 additional shares for every 1 they own – to be distributed after the close of trading on August 7. The shares will begin trading on a post-split basis on August 8.
MicroStrategy launched as an enterprise software vendor, but began employing a aggressive bitcoin buying strategy in 2020 and has been trading primarily as a proxy for the price of the leading cryptocurrency ever since. In February, the company said it would shift its focus and brand to bitcoin development.
Bernstein recently said that MicroStrategy is “building the largest bitcoin company in the world” and has about 80% appreciation potential.
MicroStrategy shares are up 106% this year, compared with bitcoin’s 38% gain; and 216% in the past 12 months, compared with bitcoin’s 91% advance.