Strategy’s Stretch Buybacks Reach $1.06 Billion Since October

By Nathan Brooks

Strategy has spent approximately $1.06 billion repurchasing its Stretch preferred shares since October, according to the company’s latest weekly disclosure, nearly five times the $219.7 million it deployed on bitcoin over the same period.

Last week, the company paid $188.3 million to acquire about 1.89 million Stretch shares and $81.9 million to buy 1,036 BTC. The bitcoin purchase was its second consecutive weekly acquisition.

The funding came from $283.8 million in net proceeds raised by selling roughly 2.05 million common shares through Strategy’s at-the-market program. The company apportioned the proceeds as follows:

• $188.3 million for Stretch preferred-share repurchases, covering about 1.89 million shares.
• $81.9 million for 1,036 BTC, bought at an average price of $79,012 per coin.
• $13.6 million added to the company’s U.S.-dollar cash balance.

That spending split defines the mix of new financing: approximately 66% of the reported net proceeds went to preferred-share retirement, about 29% went to bitcoin and roughly 5% increased cash.

Since October, the same ordering has dominated. Cumulative Stretch repurchases have run at nearly five times bitcoin spending, while last week’s $188.3 million outlay exceeded the $81.9 million bitcoin purchase by more than twofold.

What does this allocation change for shareholders?

Operationally, the two largest transactions have different endpoints. The bitcoin purchase adds to a treasury that now stands at 850,364 BTC, acquired for $64.16 billion at an average cost of $75,456 per coin. Strategy says the position represents about 4.05% of bitcoin’s 21 million maximum supply. The Stretch transaction instead retires preferred shares rather than adding a digital asset to that treasury.

For common shareholders, the practical issue is how fresh equity issuance interacts with the retirement of one preferred class. Strategy has answered that question with a financing structure that raises common shares through the at-the-market program, directs most of the proceeds back into Stretch repurchases and preserves a smaller weekly bitcoin-buying program.

The disclosure does not state the preferred dividend rate, the remaining Stretch shares outstanding or the number of shares redeemed across all October transactions. Investors therefore cannot use these figures to calculate the change in preferred dividend obligations.

The bitcoin side also has a distinct cost basis. Strategy’s latest purchase averaged $79,012 per BTC, $3,556, or about 4.7%, above the $75,456 average cost of its total holdings. Those are acquisition-cost figures, not a valuation of the position, and the report provides no purchase dates or transaction venues from which execution quality could be assessed.

The next test for Strategy’s capital structure

The immediate test is whether Strategy maintains this allocation split as the cumulative preferred buyback moves beyond $1.06 billion. Another week at last week’s $188.3 million pace would push that total above $1.2 billion, though the company’s disclosure does not provide a repurchase deadline or a target for the preferred program.

The next weekly report will show whether this capital structure shift persists: whether preferred redemptions continue to absorb most new equity proceeds while bitcoin purchases remain the smaller, recurring allocation.