Michael Saylor breaks Strategy’s never-sell bitcoin pledge

Michael Saylor said Strategy will “probably sell some bitcoin” to pay dividends, marking the first public reversal of the firm’s long-held never-sell position.

Strategy, the largest publicly traded corporate holder of bitcoin, may sell a portion of its holdings to cover dividend payments, executive chairman Michael Saylor said during the company’s Q1 2026 earnings call on May 5. The statement marks the first time the firm has publicly walked back the never-sell position Saylor has repeatedly asserted over several years.

“We will probably sell some bitcoin to pay a dividend just to inoculate the market and send the message that we did it,” Saylor said on the call. He framed the approach as deliberate: “You buy bitcoin with credit, you let it appreciate, and then you sell bitcoin to pay the dividend.”

Q1 results and market reaction

Strategy reported a $12.54 billion net loss for Q1 2026. The company holds 818,334 BTC, acquired at an average cost of $75,537 per coin. Its preferred stock instruments carry combined annual dividend obligations of approximately $1.5 billion, including the 11.5% STRC product, which has scaled to $8.5 billion in outstanding market value.

MSTR stock fell more than 4% in after-hours trading following the call. Bitcoin slipped below $81,000. Despite the reaction, Saylor pushed back on short-seller theses during the call: “If you’re a short seller and your thesis is the company’s got to sell equity in order to fund the dividends, I would like nothing better than to rip your wings off.”

Strategy has previously stated it would not sell bitcoin under any circumstances, with Saylor describing it as a permanent, appreciating reserve.

The company has raised $11.68 billion year-to-date in 2026 through equity and preferred stock offerings to fund bitcoin purchases. The new signal that direct bitcoin sales are now on the table represents a meaningful shift in the firm’s capital allocation strategy.