Strategy favors $950.8M STRC buybacks over Bitcoin buys

Strategy spent about $950.8 million repurchasing STRC variable-rate preferred shares between July 20 and Sept. 13, compared with $369.7 million used to buy Bitcoin during the same eight-week window.

A Sept. 14 filing shows the company bought 1,420,467 STRC shares between Sept. 8 and Sept. 13, funding those purchases entirely from its flexible USD Cash balance. The company reported $139.3 million in STRC repurchases in that latest reporting period. Bitcoin purchases during the window occurred only from Aug. 24–30, when Strategy added 4,603 BTC for $369.7 million.

Across eight reporting periods from July 20 through Sept. 13, Strategy repurchased roughly 9.96 million STRC shares for about $950.8 million. That spending level equals approximately $2.57 on STRC repurchases for every $1 spent on Bitcoin during the period.

The company’s July 27 buyback policy stated that repurchasing preferred shares below their $100 stated value can reduce future preferred-dividend obligations. The policy also said purchases would generally taper as STRC prices approached $100, with timing and amounts remaining at management’s discretion.

Some buybacks were funded in part by earlier Bitcoin sales. Between July 27 and Aug. 2, Strategy sold 1,638 BTC and allocated $52.4 million of the proceeds to preferred dividends and $52.3 million to STRC repurchases. In the following week, it sold another 1,690 BTC for $108.6 million and used those proceeds to fund additional repurchases.

The company separates its cash into two pools. As of Sept. 13, Strategy reported $1.3 billion in flexible USD Cash available for repurchases and a separate USD Reserve of $5.10 billion designated for preferred dividends and interest on debt. Under the July 27 policy, the USD Reserve was not authorized to fund STRC repurchases, so buybacks drew on the flexible cash balance.

On Sept. 8 the board raised the preferred-security repurchase authorization to $2 billion, including earlier purchases; about $1 billion of that authorization remained available as of Sept. 13. Strategy reported holding 845,050 BTC at the end of the period.