Michael Saylor Tells Strategy Investors to Prepare for ‘Difficult Years’

Michael Saylor Tells Strategy Investors to Prepare for ‘Difficult Years’

Tue, August 18, 2026 at 9:22 PM GMT+3 2 min read

• MSTR +12.68%
• BTC-USD +8.41%

KEY TAKEAWAYS

• Strategy's executive chairman Michael Saylor in a Q&A Monday said investors in his company should have a long time horizon.

• Those seeking a dividend, meanwhile, should consider the company's preferred stock, not the common shares, he said.

Investors in Strategy got a reality check yesterday—from Michael Saylor himself.

During a Q&A with shareholders of Strategy (MSTR), one participant worried that the company's at-the-market stock offerings would keep share prices low, since selling shares can have a dilutive effect on a stock. (The questioner said a $73,000 investment, made on behalf of his three children, was under water, according to a transcript provided by AlphaSense, and wondered if the company might issue a dividend to stockholders "to do something right by them in the near term.")

Indeed, the crypto winter that started in October has weighed on bitcoin and shares of Strategy, a bitcoin proxy of sorts. The price of the world's largest cryptocurrency has been cut in half since it peaked above $126,000, and Strategy's stock has fallen over 70% over the same time period. In those 10 months, the company has worked to build its cash reserves, rolling out a $21 billion share offering in March, selling stockpiled bitcoin, and buying back its "Stretch" (STRC) preferred shares.

Saylor said the investor should "buy one of the preferred stocks" if he wanted a dividend; one of them, "Stride" (STRD), pays an effective yield of 15%. Otherwise, Saylor said, shareholders need a time horizon of as long as 10 years.

"I feel your pain, but I think we have to be prepared to have difficult years," Saylor said.

Bitcoin sometimes goes through long stretches when it falls, he said, but when it rises he expects Strategy stock to "outperform bitcoin." Since Strategy first bought bitcoin in August 2020, its shares have gained almost 700%, compared to bitcoin's 450% rise.

Read the original article on Investopedia