MicroStrategy reports second-quarter loss; Bitcoin holdings rise to 226,500

MicroStrategy (MSTR) reported a second-quarter net loss of $102.6 million ($5.74 per share), compared to earnings of $22.2 million or $1.52 per share ONE earlier.

The loss came as the company took a $180.1 million impairment charge on its Bitcoin assets, compared to $24.1 million in the second quarter a year ago.

Led by executive chairman Michael Saylor, the company disclosed on July 31 the existence of 226,500 Bitcoin tokens , a few tokens more than the last acquisition announcement in mid-June. These 226,500 Bitcoins were purchased for $8.3 billion, or a price of $36,821 per token. At the current price of $63,500, these assets are worth about $14.4 billion.

"On the adoption side, we are extremely optimistic about the improved understanding of Bitcoin and the growing support for the ecosystem from bipartisan policymakers and institutions presented at the Bitcoin 2024 conference in Nashville," CEO Fong Le said in the earnings release .

The impairment amount reflects the loss or gain of a company's Bitcoin assets compared to the price at which they were acquired. While new accounting guidelines allow companies to label their digital assets for sale, companies are not yet required to do so.

According to FactSet, the company recorded revenue of $111.4 million, compared to analysts' forecasts of $122 million, when reviewing operations.

Shares fell 6.5% in the regular trading session ahead of Thursday's report, along with sharp declines in both the stock and Crypto Markets. MSTR has more than tripled over the past year as the price of Bitcoin has more than doubled over the same period.

In July, the Nasdaq-listed software company announced a 10-to-1 stock split to make its shares more accessible to investors and employees. The split became effective at the close of trading today.