MicroStrategy CEO Michael Saylor will transition from his CEO position to Executive Chairman of the company, according to a statement released on August 2nd, 2022. Phong Le currently serves as the company’s president and will be taking over Saylor’s CEO position while also serving as a member of the Board of Directors.
Saylor and Le’s new roles will go into effect on August 8th, 2022. Saylor will continue to serve as the company's Chairman of the Board of Directors and remain an Executive Officer.
Since founding MicroStrategy in 1989 and taking the company public in 1998, Michael Saylor has held the positions of CEO and Chairman of the Board. Under Saylor's direction, MicroStrategy has developed into a world leader in business intelligence that provides services to some of the most prestigious businesses and governments.
During the summer of 2020, MicroStrategy adopted Bitcoin as its main treasury reserve asset, making it the first publicly traded business to do so. As Executive Chairman, Saylor will prioritize innovation and long-term company strategy. He will also continue to serve as the Chairman of the Board's Investments Committee and oversee MicroStrategy's Bitcoin acquisition strategy.
In the statement, Saylor provides his reasoning for shifting roles within the company:
I believe that splitting the roles of Chairman and CEO will enable us to better pursue our two corporate strategies of acquiring and holding Bitcoin and growing our enterprise analytics software business. As Executive Chairman I will be able to focus more on our Bitcoin acquisition strategy and related Bitcoin advocacy initiatives, while Phong will be empowered as CEO to manage overall corporate operations.
Before adopting a Bitcoin strategy for their balance sheet, MicroStrategy was solely providing cloud-based services and enterprise software. According to Saylor, the publicly traded business is now more akin to the country's first and only Bitcoin spot exchange-traded fund.
“We’re kind of like your nonexistent spot ETF,” Saylor stated while at the Bitcoin 2022 conference in Miami.
MicroStrategy also released their financial results today for the three month period ending on June 30th, 2022, or the second quarter of its fiscal year 2022.
Le stated that the company continues to see stability within their analytics business and a high demand for their cloud platform.
“With total revenue growth on a constant currency basis, and 36% year-over-year growth in subscription services revenues, our business remains resilient even in light of the continuing macroeconomic uncertainties,” explained Le.