Strategy EVP Sells $3.6 Million in Stock Before Bitcoin Price Slump — Barron's
By Mackenzie TatananniStrategy's executive vice president and general counsel made a series of transactions culminating in the sale of $3.6 million worth of company stock days before the price of Bitcoin tumbled and took cryptocurrency-linked stocks down with it.On Sept. 18, Shao Wei-Ming exercised an employee stock option to buy 10,000 shares of common stock at a price of $40.46. The same day, Ming sold 10,000 shares in multiple transactions at an average of $355.79 each.Following the transactions, Ming owned 12,726 class A common shares, valued at $4.1 million based on Wednesday's closing price. He owned an additional 19,027 shares of perpetual preferred stock, which have no maturity date, meaning they will offer fixed dividend payments for as long as Strategy continues to operate.The form noted there were 129,100 remaining shares subject to the option underlying the exercised shares, with vesting dates through Feb. 17, 2026.The price of Bitcoin sank in the aftermath of the Federal Reserve's interest-rate decision on Sept. 18. Through Wednesday's close, Strategy has fallen for four consecutive sessions, losing 7.4% over that period. It was down another 5.5% in Thursday trading.Movements in stock usually parallel fluctuations in the price of Bitcoin, which is down 1.8% at $111,373 over the past 24 hours at the time of publication.Strategy is widely seen as a leveraged investment vehicle that offers investors exposure to the crypto. The company calls itself a "Bitcoin treasury company," and decided to rebrand to Strategy from MicroStrategy earlier this year, complete with a new logo featuring the Bitcoin symbol.Strategy buys Bitcoin nearly every week. In the period from Sept. 15 to Sept. 21, the company snapped up 850 digital tokens for $99.7 million, bringing its total holdings to 639,835 Bitcoins.Inside Scoop is a regular Barron's feature covering stock transactions by corporate executives and board members — so-called insiders — as well as large shareholders, politicians, and other prominent figures. Due to their insider status, these investors are required to disclose stock trades with the Securities and Exchange Commission or other regulatory groups.Write to Mackenzie Tatananni at [email protected] subscribe to Barron's, visit http://www.barrons.com/subscribe