Michael Saylor steps down as the CEO of MicroStrategy after 33 years

Michael Saylor is leaving his role as CEO of MicroStrategy to become Executive Chairman of the company, according to a statement released this afternoon. MicroStrategy’s president, Phong Le, will become the company’s new CEO.

Saylor founded MicroStrategy in 1989 with his friend Sanju Bansal as a software company with a focus on analytics software. The company was at one time famous for its business intelligence software before it later becomes a bitcoin investment company. Since its inception, Saylor has been in the role of CEO and later took the company public in 1998.

In a statement, Saylor said: “I believe that splitting the roles of Chairman and CEO will enable us to better pursue our two corporate strategies of acquiring and holding bitcoin and growing our enterprise analytics software business. As Executive Chairman I will be able to focus more on our bitcoin acquisition strategy and related bitcoin advocacy initiatives, while Phong will be empowered as CEO to manage overall corporate operations.”

The announcement comes as the company announces its second-quarter earnings, in which its total revenues dropped by 2.6% compared to a year ago. There’s no indication that Saylor’s investment in bitcoin led to him stepping down from his role as the CEO.

“As Executive Chairman, Mr. Saylor will focus primarily on innovation and long-term corporate strategy, while continuing to provide oversight of the Company’s bitcoin acquisition strategy as head of the Board’s Investments Committee, the company said in a press release.

“I’m honored and excited to continue leading this truly innovative organization, as President & CEO. Our people and our brand carry incredible momentum. I would like to reinforce our commitment to our customers, shareholders, partners and employees, and I look forward to leading the organization for the long-term health and growth of our enterprise software and bitcoin acquisition strategies,” Le said.

Late last month, Michael Saylor’s MicroStrategy doubled down on Bitcoin. Having invested billions in the world’s most popular cryptocurrency, Michael Saylor’s MicroStrategy announced it purchased an additional 480 bitcoins for ~$10.0 million at an average price of ~$20,817 per #bitcoin. The Virginia-based business intelligence software MicroStrategy now holds approx. 129,699 bitcoins, which were acquired for a total of approx. $3.98 billion at an average price of ~$30,664 per bitcoin.

In March 2021, Saylor told his fans in an infamous video to mortgage their homes and buy bitcoins. Since then, bitcoin has lost more than half of its value.

“Once you know how it all ends, the only use of time is…how do I buy more bitcoin? But take all your money and buy bitcoin. Then take all your time, figure out how to borrow more money to buy more bitcoin. Then take all your time and figure out what you can sell to buy bitcoin. And if you absolutely love the thing, that you don’t want to sell it, go mortgage your house and buy bitcoin with it. And if you’ve got a business that you love because your family works for the business and it’s in your family for 37 years, and you can’t bear to sell it, mortgage it, finance it, and convert the proceeds into the hardest money on earth, which is bitcoin,”  Saylor told the host.

Never forget Michael Saylor encouraging unsophisticated investors to liquidate every asset they own to buy Bitcoin on leverage.pic.twitter.com/Wvv3c2JpOZ

— Nate Anderson (@NateHindenburg) June 13, 2022