Michael Saylor to Pitch Microsoft Board on Bitcoin Buying Strategy

Bitcoin bull and MicroStrategy Chairman Michael Saylor said he agreed to make a three-minute presentation to Microsoft’s board of directors about investing in Bitcoin. “The activist that put that proposal together contacted me to present to the board, and I agreed to provide a three-minute presentation — that’s all you’re allowed — and I’m going to present it to the board of directors,” said Saylor in a Nov. 19 X Spaces hosted by VanEck.

Saylor said he earlier proposed to meet with Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella “in confidence” to discuss the topic, but that offer was not accepted. “So you will see me putting together the three-minute proposal for Microsoft […], and we’ll send it to the board,” he added.

In October, Microsoft disclosed that one of its voting items for December will be whether to conduct an assessment on investing in Bitcoin. The National Center for Public Policy Research (NCPPR) pushed the proposal, which highlighted MicroStrategy’s Bitcoin investment strategy and that its share price has outperformed Microsoft by over 300% this year “despite doing a fraction of the business” of Microsoft.

“I think it’s not a bad idea to put it on the agenda of every company. It ought to be put on the agenda of Berkshire Hathaway and Apple and Google and Meta because they all have huge hordes of cash, and they’re all burning shareholder value,” Saylor said.  He added that 98.5% of Microsoft’s enterprise value (total company value) is leveraged to its quarterly earnings, while 1.5% of the value of the stock comes from its tangible assets. 

“It would be a lot more stable stock and a much less risky stock if half of the enterprise value of the stock was based upon tangible assets or property like Bitcoin. So I think there’s a great argument to be made. I think shareholders should make it.” The shareholder proposal will be up for a vote on Dec. 10.  Microsoft’s board has recommended voting against it because they already “evaluate a wide range of investable assets,” including Bitcoin.

Still, Ethan Peck, deputy director of the NCPPR’s Free Enterprise Project, later told Cointelegraph that the proposal could put Microsoft in a tight position if it conducts the assessment and determines not to invest in the asset.  Microsoft’s board of directors currently consists of 12 members, including Nadella, who also serves as chairman, along with high-ranking executives from The Walt Disney Company, Citigroup, Wells Fargo and GSK.