Strategy paid $100M extra to buy back the bitcoin it sold

Strategy has spent recent weeks rebuying 5,553 of the BTC it sold over the summer. After selling low in the summer and re-buying high this autumn, the opportunity cost of its roundtrip trade exceeds $100 million.

Despite years of promises that he’d never sell, Michael Saylor’s company sold 6,948 BTC between May and August for an average of $62,150 apiece, then repurchased 5,553 coins at an average $80,207.

In other words, Strategy ended up with the same 5,553 coins it started with, but spent $445.4 million to replace those it sold for $345.1 million.

Its rebuy was 29% more expensive, foregoing a $100.2 million investment gain for being out of the market during a BTC rally.

In addition to that realized opportunity cost, the pain for shareholders goes even deeper.

The point of the sale was essentially for media purposes — not even because the company was short on cash. Indeed, on a May 5 call with analysts, Saylor said the company would sell BTC “just to inoculate the market” and send the message for news publications that it had done so. 

He told Fortune, “the skeptics and the short-sellers don’t recognize that we’re just selling a BTC derivative, and we have the option to sell the BTC.” 

Saylor and CEO Phong Le appeared on numerous TV interviews and podcasts, explaining that Strategy’s initial BTC sale was for messaging purposes.