Strategy’s discretionary cash falls 72% as buyback authorization rises to $3 billion

Strategy's discretionary USD Cash fell to $447.3 million as the company spent another $193.1 million on STRC buybacks and raised its preferred-stock repurchase authorization to $3 billion.

The Michael Saylor-led company disclosed on Oct. 19 that it bought Bitcoin for $22.1 million at an average price of $82,900 over the previous week. The acquisitions increased its holdings to 848,517 BTC, accumulated for approximately $64.02 billion.

During the same period, Strategy spent another $193.1 million repurchasing nearly 1.94 million shares of its Variable Rate Series A Perpetual Stretch Preferred Stock (STRC), extending an aggressive campaign to support the security's trading price near its $100 stated value.

The firm's discretionary USD Cash holdings declined about 72% to $447.3 million as of Oct. 18, down from $1.61 billion on Aug. 30. The latest weekly decline of $193.2 million comprised $193.1 million in STRC repurchases and $100,000 in Bitcoin purchases.

Strategy financed $22 million of its latest Bitcoin acquisitions through the sale of 140,872 common shares, using just $100,000 of USD Cash for the remainder.

Meanwhile, its separate USD Reserve, designated primarily for dividend and debt-interest payments, stood at $4.83 billion after the company withdrew $45.5 million for preferred-stock dividends.

Strategy's board increased its digital credit securities repurchase authorization by 50% to $3 billion from $2 billion, leaving approximately $1.16 billion available for additional purchases.

The expansion follows the company's spending roughly $1.84 billion to buy back STRC since it began repurchases in July.

Of that amount, the company deployed $713.5 million in the last four weeks through Oct. 18, including about $561.8 million during the three weeks beginning Sept. 28, when STRC traded between $99 and $100 for most of the period.

The sustained buying contrasts with Strategy's original plan to gradually reduce repurchases as the preferred stock approached its intended trading range.

In July, Chief Executive Officer Phong Le said the company would make larger purchases at deeper discounts and taper spending as STRC recovered toward par. Its initial purchases averaged about $86.53 per share, securing a discount of nearly 13.5%.