Strategy pauses Bitcoin buys as STRC repurchases reach $205 million

Strategy has repurchased $204.9 million of its STRC preferred stock while making no Bitcoin purchases or sales during the week ended Oct. 25, leaving its holdings at 848,517 BTC.

• Strategy bought back 2,068,459 STRC shares without selling shares through its at-the-market offering program.
• Bitcoin holdings remained unchanged, with an aggregate purchase cost of $64.02 billion, including fees.
• USD Cash fell to $242.4 million, separate from the company’s $4.83 billion designated reserve.
• Preferred-stock repurchase capacity stood at $956.8 million following the latest transactions.

Strategy disclosed the transactions in an Oct. 26 filing with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission. The company funded the STRC purchases from its USD Cash balance and reported no repurchases of MSTR common stock or its other listed preferred shares.

Executive chairman Michael Saylor announced the rounded $205 million figure on X, saying Strategy held $5.1 billion in USD assets as of Oct. 25.

Strategy’s STRC purchases averaged roughly $99.06 per share

Dividing the reported $204.9 million purchase cost by 2,068,459 shares gives an average of approximately $99.06 per STRC share. The calculation uses the rounded spending figure in Strategy’s filing.

The company’s STRC dashboard displayed a $99.36 share price for the Oct. 23 market close, placing the preferred stock 64 cents below its $100 stated amount. The dashboard listed a variable annual dividend rate of 12% and an effective yield of 12.08%.

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Management has previously tied repurchases to STRC’s trading price. During its second-quarter earnings discussion, CEO Phong Le said the company intended to buy shares below $100, with purchases scaled to market prices and liquidity. He described discounted buybacks as a way to reduce future preferred dividend requirements.

At a $100 stated amount, the latest repurchases represent approximately $206.85 million of preferred stock. Comparing that amount with the reported purchase cost gives a difference of roughly $1.95 million.

Using the dashboard’s current 12% annual rate, the repurchased shares correspond to approximately $24.8 million in annualized dividends. The calculation assumes the rate stays unchanged and is separate from any company forecast of future savings.

Dollar assets include a reserve for dividends and interest

Strategy separates its dollar holdings into two categories. Its USD Reserve supports preferred dividends and debt interest, while USD Cash can fund Bitcoin purchases, reserve contributions, and other capital management uses.

The latest $5.1 billion headline balance combines those categories. The Oct. 26 filing reported $4.83 billion in the reserve and $242.4 million in USD Cash after the repurchases.

A week earlier, USD Cash stood at $447.3 million. Subtracting the latest buyback spending produces the new $242.4 million balance, a decline of approximately 45.8%.

During the preceding reporting period, Strategy used $193.1 million of USD Cash for STRC repurchases and another $100,000 for Bitcoin purchases. It paid $45.5 million in preferred dividends from the designated reserve, according to its Oct. 19 filing.

The company’s Oct. 12 disclosure showed an earlier USD Cash balance of $640.5 million and a $4.88 billion reserve. Management reported using $500,000 of USD Cash for Bitcoin purchases during that week, alongside proceeds from common-share sales.

STRC buybacks have outpaced recent Bitcoin purchases

As previously reported by crypto.news, Strategy bought another 267 Bitcoin for $22.1 million during Oct. 12–18. The purchase brought its holdings to the balance it retained through Oct. 25.

Its Oct. 19 filing showed that sales of 140,872 MSTR shares generated $22 million in net proceeds, funding nearly all that acquisition. No preferred shares were sold through the at-the-market program during that period.

The prior week followed a similar spending pattern. Strategy spent $192.4 million repurchasing STRC while buying 250 BTC for $21.5 million. The Bitcoin purchase price averaged $86,194, including fees and expenses.

Across the three reporting periods, STRC repurchases totaled $590.4 million, compared with $43.6 million spent acquiring 517 BTC. Those totals put preferred-share repurchase spending at approximately 13.5 times Bitcoin acquisition spending.

On Oct. 19, Strategy raised its digital credit securities repurchase authorization from $2 billion to $3 billion, including purchases already completed. Its separate MSTR common-stock buyback program retained its full $1 billion capacity after the latest week.

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