MicroStrategy, the largest corporate holder of bitcoin, announced a 10-for-1 stock split on Thursday.
The company said the shares will be split into class A common stock and class B common stock “to make MicroStrategy’s stock more accessible to investors and employees.” The move comes amid a lull for the price of bitcoin, which has been stuck in a tight range since about March, but which many investors expect to rebound in the second half of the year.
The shares rose about 6% but are currently about 34% off an all-time high of $1,999.99, reached in March of this year.
MicroStrategy plans to pay a dividend to shareholders on Aug. 1, which will give them an additional nine shares for every one they hold, to be distributed after trading closes Aug. 7. The stock will begin trading on a post-split basis Aug. 8.
MicroStrategy launched as a provider of enterprise software, but began employing an aggressive bitcoin-buying strategy in 2020 and has primarily traded as a proxy for the flagship cryptocurrency’s price since then. This February, the company said it would shift its company focus and brand to bitcoin development.
Bernstein recently said MicroStrategy is “building the world’s largest bitcoin company” and has about 80% upside.
MicroStrategy stock is up 106% this year, compared to bitcoin’s 38% gain, and 216% in the past 12 months, compared to bitcoin’s 91% advance.
