MicroStrategy's Michael Saylor Will Present Case for Bitcoin Investment to Microsoft's Board of Directors

During an X space hosted by asset manager VanEck, Saylor said he was contacted by the activist who put up the shareholder proposal to present to the board.

MicroStrategy (Nasdaq: MSTR) Chairman Michael Saylor is presenting a case for Bitcoin (CRYPTO: BTC) investment to the board of directors at Microsoft Corporation (Nasdaq: MSFT), as part of a shareholder proposal.

Saylor, a known Bitcoin proponent, said he was contacted by the activist who put up the proposal to present to the board.

“I agreed to provide a three-minute presentation. That's all you're allowed. I'm going to actually post that online and I'm going to present it to the board,” Saylor said during an X space hosted by asset manager VanEck.

The MicroStrategy chief added that he even proposed meeting with CEO Satya Nadella to discuss the strategy, but the offer was not accepted.

“I think it’s not a bad idea to put it on the agenda of every company. I mean, it ought to be put on the agenda of Berkshire Hathaway, Apple, and Google because they all have huge hordes of cash and they’re all burning shareholder value,” Saylor argued.

He said that Microsoft stock would be “much less risky” if half of its enterprise value — which was currently just around 1.5% — is based on tangible assets like Bitcoin.

Meanwhile, Saylor also offered to discuss the implications of adding Bitcoin to the Treasury with Rumble Inc. (Nasdaq: RUM) CEO Chris Pavloski.

Why Microsoft, Bitcoin?

The proposal, filed earlier this year, requests the board to assess the "feasibility, risks, and rewards" of allocating a portion of Microsoft's "available cash and cash equivalents" to an "exchange-traded fund that provides exposure to Bitcoin."

The shareholders highlighted Bitcoin's "impressive gains" over the last five years, arguing that the cryptocurrency "outperformed nearly all other major asset classes, including stocks, bonds, commodities, and real estate."

The proposal also cited MicroStrategy's "pioneering role" in adopting Bitcoin as a corporate treasury asset, noting that the strategy "led to a substantial outperformance" in MicroStrategy shares compared to Microsoft in 2024.

"We believe that Microsoft shareholders would benefit from exploring a similar strategy, given the company's vast cash reserves and Microsoft stock's relatively lackluster performance in recent years," the shareholders wrote.

The proposal is set to be voted on at Microsoft's annual shareholders meeting, which is scheduled for later next month.

Bitcoin, Microsoft, MicroStrategy Interactions

In recent months, several activists and shareholders have pushed companies to consider adding Bitcoin to their balance sheets.

Earlier this year, Sixth Street Advisers, an activist hedge fund, disclosed that it had nominated four candidates to join Block's (NYSE:SQ) board of directors.

The hedge fund, which reportedly owned a stake of less than 1% in Block, said it was frustrated by the payments company's decision not to allocate a portion of its $150 billion cash hoard to Bitcoin.

Following pressure from activists, MicroStrategy became the first publicly traded company to add Bitcoin to its balance sheet in August 2020.

Since then, several other companies, including Tesla (Nasdaq: TSLA), Block and Jack Dorsey's Block, have allocated a portion of their cash reserves to the apex cryptocurrency.

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