Finance17 August, 20262 min read
Michael Saylor Says Strategy Won’t Prioritize MSTR Share Buybacks While Building $4.8 Billion Cash Reserve
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Strategy holds about $4.8 billion in cash reserves. Share buybacks are not a priority, possible only at NAV discount.
Cash first, buybacks later
Strategy Executive Chairman Michael Saylor said the company is not currently prioritizing buybacks of its MSTR shares, while it builds cash reserves of $4.8 billion. Saylor told CoinDesk on August 17 that Strategy could repurchase shares if MSTR trades at a steep discount to net asset value, or NAV, but for now it is focused on its STRC preferred stock business and building cash reserves.
CoinDesk reported that Strategy is prioritizing STRC, cash reserves, and its credit business over stock buybacks, and noted that MSTR shares gained about 5% Monday even as they have fallen about 38% this year. In the same Q&A framing, CoinDesk said Saylor left the door open to future buybacks by tying any repurchase to whether MSTR is trading at a “very, very deep discount to NAV.”
STRC $100 target
Saylor said Strategy wants STRC to remain near its $100 issue price, and CoinDesk described STRC as designed to provide income through dividends while maintaining a stable price. CoinDesk reported that CEO Phong Le defended Strategy’s practice of selling new MSTR shares, arguing that issuing stock can help when MSTR trades above the value of the assets backing each share.
In that context, CoinDesk said Strategy uses proceeds to buy bitcoin, and it also described how Le said the biggest lesson from STRC’s recent drop was the need to maintain sufficient cash to cover STRC’s dividend payments. CoinDesk also quoted Saylor saying, “We have to be able to sell bitcoin as well as buy bitcoin,” linking the cash-and-dividend approach to how Strategy manages bitcoin exposure.
How the cash was built
Bitcoin Magazine said Strategy has gone another week without buying or selling bitcoin, and it reported that the Nasdaq-listed company upped its cash buffer by selling 3,458,866 shares of MSTR common stock to generate $333.7 million.
Bitcoin Magazine also said Strategy used $52.4 million to pay dividends on its STRC preferred stock, spent $132.2 million to buy the stock back, and added $149.1 million to its dollar reserve.
The same article said Strategy has halted its Bitcoin sales and even sold a chunk of its holdings over the past two months after aggressively buying in 2025, while its stock has taken a hit in 2026, dropping over 60% year-to-date.
Bitcoin Magazine quoted CEO Phong Le saying, “We’re the J.P. Morgan of the crypto economy, so whether we sell 1,000 Bitcoin out of 840,000 to me is irrelevant to the conversation,” as Strategy reassured investors about its long-term posture toward bitcoin.