By
Tolu Ajiboye
April 23rd, 2024
MicroStrategy’s Michael Saylor asks Tesla’s Elon Musk to shore up on more Bitcoin on Twitter in response to Musk’s joke about buying Man Utd.
MicroStrategy founder Michael Saylor has urged fellow business tycoon Elon Musk to buy some more Bitcoin (BTC). This came as a response to Musk’s tweet suggesting that he is looking to buy English Premier League club Manchester United. To the Tesla CEO’s tweet which read, “… I’m buying Manchester United ur welcome,” Saylor countered with, “We would prefer that you buy some more #bitcoin.”
Musk & Saylor, Two of Bitcoin’s Biggest Aficionados
Musk and Saylor are both high-profile devotees of Bitcoin and believe in the long-term value of the prominent crypto. Furthermore, both billionaires have, at separate points, demonstrated their faith in the token from a purely business perspective. This includes Saylor shoring up a sizable BTC stake via his cloud-based company MicroStrategy. Additionally, Musk has demonstrated a willingness in the past to accept Bitcoin as payment for Tesla electric vehicles. Although he later changed his mind on this due to the unwholesome environmental issues associated with BTC mining, Tesla is an avid BTC investor. The company recently offloaded $936 million worth of Bitcoin during the second quarter of this year.
Tesla Massive Q2 BTC Sell-Off
Following Tesla’s decision to sell off 75% of its BTC stake for fiat, Musk quickly moved to assuage worried investors. According to the outspoken businessman, the EV company sold to ease Covid-triggered liquidity concerns. Tesla considered this necessary because of the prolonged shutdown in several Chinese cities caused by a Covid resurgence. At the time, Musk further suggested that the Tesla BTC sale did not indicate a bleak prognosis for the token. He even added that Tesla was open to increasing its Bitcoin holdings in the future, saying:
“[Tesla] believes, long term, in the value of Bitcoin, so it is our intent to hold what we have long-term and continue to accumulate Bitcoin from transactions from our customers as they purchase vehicles.”
Musk has repeatedly doubled down on his Bitcoin stance, saying that he wants to see the leading token continue to thrive. About a year ago, the Tesla chief executive officer stated:
“If the price of bitcoin goes down, I lose money. I might pump, but I don’t dump. … [I] definitely do not believe in getting the price high and selling, or anything like this. I would like to see bitcoin succeed.”
As it stands, Tesla has only $218 million worth of BTC left on its balance sheet.
MicroStrategy
Meanwhile, Saylor’s business intelligence, mobile software, and cloud-computing company MicroStrategy holds the largest BTC stake by a company globally. As of July 22nd, MicroStrategy held 129,699 BTC. In fact, Saylor’s company purchased 480 more Bitcoin tokens for approximately $10 million in June. This was the same quarter Musk’s Tesla offloaded 75% of its BTC stash.
Saylor recently announced that he is stepping down as CEO at MicroStrategy. However, the seasoned businessman will remain as Chairman of the company’s board of directors. Following the announcement of Saylor’s exit, effective from August 8th, MicroStrategy shares surged nearly 15%.
Saylor was succeeded by former Chief Financial Officer and Chief Operating Officer Phong Le.