Software giant Microsoft will not be buying bitcoin yet, after shareholders voted against the proposal at the annual meeting on Tuesday. Microsoft shareholders voted on the proposal at the annual meeting. Microsoft’s board in October told shareholders to vote against the item.
Some public companies are already buying bitcoin. The largest is MicroStrategy, a once-sleepy software company that was the first to buy the cryptocurrency back in 2020. Co-founder and executive chairman of MicroStrategy Michael Saylor came up with the idea during the pandemic on how to get the best return for shareholders.
The company’s stock has since soared, and MicroStrategy is now a ‘bitcoin development company’ that securitizes assets, meaning investors can buy shares of the company and thus be exposed to bitcoin. MicroStrategy now owns 423,650 bitcoins, valued at over 40 billion dollars.
Saylor also suggests that executives and companies do the same. Earlier this month, he shared a bitcoin adoption strategy with Microsoft’s board of directors. The same presentation was held for shareholders on Tuesday.
The National Center for Public Policy Research has launched efforts to convince Microsoft to also buy bitcoin. Earlier this month, it submitted a proposal to Amazon, advising the retailer and tech giant to put 5 percent of its assets into bitcoin. In both cases, it is emphasized that buying bitcoin would protect shareholders from inflation.
Other large companies that have bought bitcoin include electric vehicle manufacturer Tesla, which currently holds nearly a billion dollars in assets. Several large publicly traded bitcoin miners also hold bitcoin.
