MicroStrategy: Michael Saylor quits everything to focus on Bitcoin!

Michael Saylor is stepping down as CEO of MicroStrategy. Phong Le, the company’s president, will assume the role of CEO.

Cloud software company MicroStrategy today announced that Michael Saylor, a bitcoin supporter and the company’s CEO since 1989, is stepping down as CEO and becoming executive chairman.

Phong Le, the company’s president, will assume the role of CEO.

Michael Saylor, who is a bitcoin maximalist and was behind MicroStrategy’s strategy to amass billions of dollars in bitcoin, will continue as chairman of the board and also assume the new role of executive chairman.

“I believe that separating the roles of chairman and executive chairman will allow us to better pursue our two corporate strategies of acquiring and holding bitcoin and growing our enterprise analytics software business.” Saylor said in a statement.

“As executive chairman, I will be able to focus more on our bitcoin acquisition strategy and related bitcoin advocacy initiatives, while Phong will be empowered as CEO to manage the overall operations of the company.“

Phong Le has been president of MicroStrategy since July 2020 and has also held various other leadership positions since joining the company in 2015, including CFO and COO.

Shares of MicroStrategy were down 2.4% to $272.26 in after-hours trading Tuesday. Shares have fallen about 46% year-to-date, right alongside bitcoin’s roughly 50% drop over the same period.

MicroStrategy plans to hold a conference call with analysts to discuss its second-quarter results at 5 p.m. ET.

This information is under development and will be updated.