MicroStrategy posts third straight loss on Bitcoin impairment charge

Bitcoin hedge-fund proxy MicroStrategy Inc. posted a third consecutive quarterly loss after taking an impairment charge against the value of its roughly $18 billion stockpile of the cryptocurrency.

Even with the loss, the Tysons Corner, Virginia-based enterprise software maker announced plans to raise $42 billion over the next three years, comprising $21 billion of equity and $21 billion of fixed income securities, to buy more Bitcoin. The company’s shares fell around 4% in late trading. 

“Our focus remains to increase value generated to our shareholders by leveraging the digital transformation of capital,” President and Chief Executive Officer Phong Le said in a statement. “As a Bitcoin treasury company, we plan to use the additional capital to buy more Bitcoin as a treasury reserve asset.” 

Third-quarter revenue from its software business fell 10% to $116.1 million. That was below analysts’ forecasts of $122.5 million. The net loss was $340 million, compared with a loss of $143.4 million in the year-ago quarter. MicroStrategy took a $412 million impairment change in the recent quarter. 

Thanks to its Bitcoin holdings, MicroStrategy has outperformed almost every major U.S. stock, including AI bellwether Nvidia Corp., in the last two years. It’s been hitting new 52-week highs in recent days, as Bitcoin began to skyrocket again toward its all-time high reached in March. The shares have surged almost 300% this year, outperforming Bitcoin’s roughly 70% increase, thanks to Chairman Michael Saylor’s leveraged investment strategy. 

MicroStrategy raises money via instruments like convertible notes to fund additional Bitcoin purchases. The company began buying Bitcoin in 2020, and is now the largest publicly traded corporate holder of Bitcoin. 

Whenever MicroStrategy implements a new accounting rule, and values its crypto assets at market value at the end of each reporting period, that could trigger a major cash tax obligation. 

On the other hand, the new accounting expected to be introduced next year could make money-losing MicroStrategy a profitable company. Bitcoin assets are listed on the firm’s books at just under $6 billion entering this quarter – less than a third of today’s market value — and they will be written up to market prices.

While Saylor has won admiration of digital-asset proponents, few US public companies besides Tesla Inc. and a handful of crypto-related firms hold the volatile cryptocurrency on their balance sheets.