Strategy may sell Bitcoin to fund dividends; shares drop

MicroStrategy said it could liquidate part of its Bitcoin holdings to fund dividend payments after reporting a $12.54 billion net loss for the first quarter of 2026. The change in policy was announced on the company’s Q1 earnings call and preceded a more than 4% drop in the stock during after-hours trading.

Executive chairman Michael Saylor described a plan to use borrowed funds to acquire Bitcoin, let those holdings appreciate, and then sell a portion if cash is needed to support a dividend. On the call he said, “We will probably sell some Bitcoin to pay a dividend just to inoculate the market and send the message that we did it,” and added, “You buy Bitcoin with credit, you let it appreciate, and then you sell bitcoin to pay the dividend.”

Chief executive Phong Le said the company would consider selling Bitcoin when such transactions are advantageous to shareholders and consistent with the goal of increasing Bitcoin per share. He noted the firm could sell Bitcoin to raise U.S. dollars or to purchase debt if those actions were accretive to Bitcoin per share and overall shareholder value, and stated, “We’re not going to sit back and just say, We’ll never sell the bitcoin.”

Strategy holds 818,334 bitcoins, acquired at an average cost of about $75,537 per coin, making it the largest publicly traded corporate holder of the asset. Company leaders did not provide specifics on the size or timing of any potential sales, saying they would act when transactions are accretive to shareholders and support Bitcoin-per-share growth.

Investors reacted quickly. The stock closed up 1.69% at $186.90 before the call and then fell over 4% in after-hours trading. Market betting platforms placed roughly a 48% probability that MicroStrategy would sell at least some Bitcoin by the end of 2026.