PANews reported on January 17 that Michael Saylor of MicroStrategy Inc. may soon have almost the same number of common shares outstanding as market giants Amazon and Alphabet Inc. to finance the company's large-scale purchase of Bitcoin, according to Bloomberg. Analysts expect MicroStrategy to easily pass a company-sponsored proposal to increase the number of authorized Class A common shares from 330 million to 10.3 billion shares when shareholders vote on January 21. Saylor controls about 47% of the voting rights. This will make it possible for MicroStrategy to have more shares outstanding than all companies in the Nasdaq 100 Index except Nvidia, Apple, Alphabet and Amazon. The company's shareholders are also expected to pass an amendment on January 21 to increase the number of authorized preferred shares from 5 million to 1 billion shares. According to the proxy document, MicroStrategy plans to use the increase to fund private transactions for Class A shares, conduct market sales equity issuance, and settle redemptions or conversions of convertible bonds.
Michael Lebowitz, portfolio manager at RIA Advisors, said that while additional stock issuance is not uncommon, MicroStrategy's plan to significantly increase the number of shares at one time would be unique. For the stock increase amendment to be passed, it must be approved by the majority of the voting rights holders of all outstanding common shares entitled to vote. The shareholder meeting will be held at 10 a.m. New York time on Tuesday, January 21.
