Michael Saylor Net Worth, Crypto and NFT Investments

Born on February 4, 1965, Michael Saylor is a business mogul and entrepreneur. He is famously known as a Bitcoin advocate. Also, Michael Saylor is regarded as one of the top BTC whales due to his huge holdings which has significantly impacted his net worth as despite the 2022 bear market, Bitcoin has bounced in 2023 to above his average entry price.

Michael Saylor is the executive chairman and co-founder of MicroStrategy. The company offers business intelligence, mobile software, and cloud-based services.

According to Forbes, the net worth of Michael Saylor is $1.1 billion. Saylor served as MicroStrategy’s chief executive officer from 1989 to 2022, leading the organization for 33 years. He left his position at MicroStrategy after the firm lost $917 million of its investment in BTC. The 23% public shares of Michael Saylor in MicroStrategy are valued at about $600 million, thereby contributing a significant amount to his net worth. 

Outside BTC and MicroStrategy, Michael Saylor is also an author and the sole trustee of the Saylor Academy. The Saylor Academy provides free online education. Among Michael Saylor’s publications is The Mobile Wave: How Mobile Intelligence Will Change Everything, a book he produced in 2012. Michael Saylor has produced different publications on Bitcoin.

“The whole point of #bitcoin is to escape the inflation vortex that has consumed all these previous empires.” – @TuckerCarlson pic.twitter.com/biCVOfchag

— Michael Saylor⚡️ (@saylor) April 24, 2023

At the height of his wealth, the net worth of Michael Saylor was reportedly close to $7 billion, making him the richest person in Washington, D.C. Despite his ownership of the Saylor Academy and his book publication expertise, Michael Saylor acquired the larger part of his wealth through the success of MicroStrategy.

On March 11, 2024, Michael Saylor disclosed that MicroStrategy had spent up to $822 million to acquire another 12,000 Bitcoins. According to the founder of the firm, the firm made the acquisition with proceeds from convertible notes & excess cash.

With that, the firm now owns 205,000 BTC which was worth about $15 billion. After news of the acquisition surfaced, the value of MicroStrategy went up by a significant number, pushing the net worth of Michael Saylor higher. 

Michael Saylor’s Net Worth as of 2024

Early Life

Michael Saylor was born in Lincoln, Nebraska. Then, his father was an Air Force chief master sergeant. By virtue of this development, he spent most of his early life in numerous Air Force bases around the world.As a beneficiary of an Air Force ROTC scholarship, Michael Saylor enrolled at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) in 1983.

While at the institute, he became a member of the Theta Delta Chi fraternity. His membership with the fraternity made it possible for him to meet one Sanju Bansal whom he later collaborated to co-found MicroStrategy. In 1987, Michael Saylor bagged a double major in aeronautics and astronautics from MIT.

With this qualification, Michael Saylor was aiming to become a pilot. However, his aspiration couldn’t materialize owing to an undisclosed medical condition. Consequently, he opted to work with Federal Group, Inc. a consulting firm in 1987. While at the firm, Michael Saylor focused on computer simulation modeling for a software integration company.

A year later, Saylor moved to DuPont to work as an internal consultant. There, he developed various innovative computer models to help the organization meet up with emerging changes in its key markets. More so, these models help the firm to correctly predict a slump in the majority of DuPont’s top markets in 1990.

MicroStrategy

With his earnings from DuPont, Saylor founded MicroStrategy alongside Sanju Bansal and Thomas Spahr. The firm began operations with $250,000 as its startup capital. It also started with just an office space in Wilmington, Delaware. According to our findings, Michael Saylor served as the CEO of the firm before stepping down in 2022.

Meanwhile, MicroStrategy focused on the development of software for data mining. Later, the firm began to develop software for business intelligence. Inspired by a course they took while at MIT, Saylor and Bansal produced a software for data mining and business intelligence using nonlinear mathematics.

The firm made a significant development that changed the fortunes of Michael Saylor and the business operations of MicroStrategy in 1992. Then, MicroStrategy bagged a contract worth $10 million from McDonald‘s to design applications that would help analyze the effectiveness of its advertisement campaigns.

It is worth mentioning that the contract with McDonald’s exposed Michael Saylor to a new business dimension. The contract encouraged Saylor to believe MicroStrategy has what it takes to design a business intelligence software for notable brands across the globe.

From 1990 to 1996, MicroStrategy enjoyed a substantial boost, recording a 100% increase in its revenue. With this financial development, the firm relocated from Delaware to Tysons Corner, Virginia. In June 1998, MicroStrategy became a public company with an initial stock offering of $4 million shares priced at $12 each.

On the first day of trading, the stock recorded spiked to about $24. The increase in the value of the firm boosted the net worth of Michael Saylor. According to our findings, the development pushed Michael Saylor to become the wealthiest person in Washington D.C. area in 2000 with a net worth of $7 billion.

That same year, the firm founded Alarm.com as part of its research and development unit. Although it eventually sold it to ABS Capital Partners for $27.7 million in 2009. In December 2000, MicroStrategy and its executives faced a lawsuit from the United States Securities and Exchange Commission for fraud-related charges.

Then, the firm and its executives paid $10.3 million to the regulatory body after choosing to settle out of court without admitting any violation. After settling with the SEC, MicroStrategy hired an independent director to aid its regulatory compliance.

Between 2010 to 2014, the firm witnessed substantial development that ushered it into a new era. Firstly, this era saw the introduction of business intelligence software for mobile platforms, such as the iPhone and iPad. From there, MicroStrategy expanded its offerings to incorporate a cloud-based service, MicroStrategy Cloud. Also, Genesys Telecommunications Laboratories acquired Angel for $110 Million from MicroStrategy. Likewise, the firm collaborated with Facebook to unveil a new feature of PRIME; Parallel Relational In-Memory Engine.

Consequently, in 2020, the firm began its BTC acquisition program, investing $250 million in the virtual asset. Michael Saylor left his position as the CEO in August 2022, but still retained his position as the Executive Chairman.

Saylor’s Academy

With a strong focus on free education, Michael Saylor founded the Saor Academy in 1999. The Saylor Academy is a non-profit organization based in Washington, DC. Michael Saylor is the sole trustee of the academy which has created 241 courses from available texts and resources. As part of its commitment, the Saylor Academy has financed the construction of various study materials for 317 free and college-level courses. In designing its materials, the Saylor Academy works with experts, consultants, and researchers.

It is worth mentioning that the Saylor Academy doesn’t require any form of subscription to access its materials. The organization’s focus on free education inspires its decision to avail materials without cost. Likewise, users are not mandated to register or log into the platform before accessing the educational materials on it. Though, it it mandatory that a user must register on the platform before gaining access to final exams, and a free certificate of completion.

In 2018, the Academy collaborated with Edovo. Also, The Saylor Academy is accredited within the NCCRS. The Academy offers degrees as a result of its collaboration with other organizations. The non-profit nature of the Saylor Academy indicates that it has no contribution to the net worth of Michael Saylor.

Books and Publications

Outside the tech and business arena, Michael Saylor, in 2021, published “The Mobile Wave: How Mobile Intelligence Will Change Everything.” The publication found its way into the New York Times Best Seller list in August, 2021. The publication provided an expository insight into the advancement of mobile technology and its possible effect on our daily activities. The book addresses how mobile technology will be a vehicle of change to upturn the existing narrative of every sector from education to healthcare. 

“What is Money?” is another insightful publication by Michael Saylor. The book in collaboration with another author, Robert Breedlove is aimed at answering the ideology behind what money entails. The attempt birthed an expository dialogue between Saylor and his co-author. At the end of the journey, Michael Saylor toured various fields like anthropology, energy, and technology to paint a clear picture of the historic significance of Bitcoin. Mainly, his opinion about Bitcoin reflected heavily in the books. It is worth mentioning that the publications contributed little to the Net Worth of Michael Saylor.

Ongoing Lawsuit against Michael Saylor

It is worth mentioning that Michael Saylor is currently facing trial over alleged tax evasion. The lawsuit was instituted by the attorney general of the District of Columbia, Karl Racine. In the filing, Racine accused the MicroStrategy founder of evading $25 million in district taxes. Also, the attorney general claimed Saylor lied about his numerous apartments in Washington DC.

NEW: Today, we’re suing Michael Saylor – a billionaire tech executive who has lived in the District for more than a decade but has never paid any DC income taxes – for tax fraud.

— Archive: AG Karl A. Racine (@AGKarlRacine) August 31, 2022

As revealed, the billionaire has numerous mansions, including penthouse lodgings and the Georgetown neighbourhood in the district but claims to live in Virginia or Florida. Saylor allegedly lied about his residential apartment to avoid paying high taxes. Recall that Virginia and Florida charge lower taxes.

According to our findings, Racine attached several screenshots to the filing to serve as evidence that Saylor lied about his residence to evade taxes. Meanwhile, his firm, MicroStrategy was also added as a defendant in the suit. MicroStrategy was alleged to have provided enablement for Saylor to evade taxes between 2005 to 2021. The firm reportedly concealed necessary information about the residential apartment of its founder, thereby enabling him to avoid taxes. Racine, however, wants the Court to slam an $100 million penalty on Saylor, covering his unpaid taxes and fines.

Meanwhile, Saylor is still insisting that he lives in Florida and not Washington DC. He and MicroStrategy instituted a motion to dismiss Racine’s allegations. Following the expiration of Racine’s tenure as attorney of DC, Brian Schwalb took over. By March 2023, the Superior Court directed the removal of MicroStrategy as a defendant in the lawsuit. This thus leaves Saylor as the only defendant in the case.

The court emphasized that it “did not dismiss claims against Mr. Saylor alleging that Mr. Saylor failed to pay personal income taxes, interest, and penalties due. A status conference in the case was scheduled for March 10, 2023. The final outcome of this matter is not presently determinable.” The court also thrashed out Racine’s motion for the imposition of a more than $100 million fine on Saylor in line with the DC’s False Claims Act. According to the judge, Yvonne Williams, the lawsuit didn’t meet the necessary criteria to bring a claim under the act. Williams further that a part of the lawsuit seeking the unpaid $25 million taxes can still be pursued. The trial is still ongoing. Meanwhile, it is worthy of note that the net worth of Michael Saylor will be slightly impacted if he is found guilty and ordered to pay up.

This is not the first time that Saylor and MicroStrategy will be facing legal charges. Recall that in the year 2000, the firm, Saylor and two other executives were charged for allegedly engaging in civil accounting firm. The lawsuit was instituted by the U.S Securities and Exchange Commission. According to the filing, the defendants allegedly overstated the earnings of one Vienna firm, thereby amassing illicit gains. They later agreed to a settlement fine of $350,000 each and forfeiture of their “ill-gotten gains,” which amounted to $10 million.

Is Michael Saylor Pro Bitcoin?

Michael Saylor has established himself as an influential personality in the crypto industry. Specifically, he loves and has never hidden his admiration for Bitcoin, the largest crypto by market cap.

Over time, the MicroStrategy owner evangelized, promoted and hyped BTC to encourage more adoption. He once said “the story here that’s not being told is that Bitcoin is egalitarian progressive technology. We’re going to see a day when 7 to 8 billion people have a bar of digital gold on their phone, and they’re using it to store their life savings with it.” In 2021, he tipped BTC to reach a $100 trillion market value, describing the token as the key to abundance.

In an attempt to further promote the token, he was quoted saying “Bitcoin is a bank in cyberspace, run by incorruptible software, offering a global, affordable, simple and dsecure savings account to billions of people that don’t have the option or desire to run their own hedge fund.” Saylor also boasted that “Bitcoin is going to flip Gold, and it’s going to subsume the entire Gold market cap.”

On July 10, 2023, Michael Saylor posted an interview of former SEC Chairman, Jay Clayton on CNBC’s “Squawk Box.” According to Jay Clayton, it will be difficult for the SEC not to approve spot Bitcoin ETF if it offers enough market efficacy for investors. The former SEC boss recalled how the regulatory body approved futures-based ETF because it was convinced about investors’ safety.

Clayton, in the interview, added that the SEC ignored the spot Bitcoin ETF because there were doubts about investors’ safety. However, the former chair asked the regulator to soften its stance about the offering since the firms have promised the safety of investors.

Further, Clayton reflected on how he was skeptical about trading in Bitcoin during his tenure as SEC chair. He admitted that BTC has grown over the years to attract more attention. Meanwhile, Michael Saylor in his post, tagged the interview with claims that Bitcoin is coming to Wall Street.

#Bitcoin is coming to Wall Street. pic.twitter.com/CwDipOOizu

— Michael Saylor⚡️ (@saylor) July 10, 2023

By choosing not to diversify his crypto portfolio, Saylor has already proven himself as a Bitcoin maximalist. His preference for the token above others is also established in the manner in which MicroStrategy has been acquiring BTC. The company started the move in 2020 and has purchased 152,452 BTC, worth over $4.52 billion as of June 2023.

Microstrategy’s acquisition of Bitcoin signifies the belief in the potential of the token by Saylor. The MicroStrategy owner sees BTC as the future of digital property, hoping that it will develop soon into a Global Reserve Currency.

Amid his growing influence in the industry, Michael Saylor has also been vocal about the activities of crypto firms. In late 2022, he chastised Ethereum and Ripple for offering unregistered securities to unsuspecting investors. This comment was in reaction to the legal tussle between the U.S SEC and Ripple. Saylor agrees with the regulator that Ripple’s offering is an unregistered security. He also added Ethereum in the list, claiming the crypto project is controlled by a few people. The former CEO further reaffirmed his love for BTC, stressing that the token is the only ethical commodity.

Crypto and NFT Holdings of Michael Saylor

As one of the notable evangelists of BTC, Michael Saylor holds a significant portion of the token. Although, as of the time of writing, no credible source could give detailed information about the exact amount of BTC he holds. So, we rely on the hint he gave in late 2022 that he holds 17,732 BTC. Then, Saylor said he purchased the crypto at an average price of $9,882. By virtue of this holding, it is safe to regard the MicroStrategy owner as a whale and one of the famous Bitcoin investors around.

Aside from his personal investment in BTC, Saylor has also influenced MicroStrategy to invest in the token. The firm is now among the biggest institutional holders of BTC. We traced the genesis of its investment in BTC to 2020 when it bought 21,454 coins for $250 million. In 2022, the bear market that stormed the crypto space significantly dipped BTC’s value, thereby leaving MicroStrategy with losses.

According to findings, the firm lost $1 billion in its BTC reserve. To strengthen the reserve, it sold its aggregated class A common stock to Cowen and Compay, and BTIG for $500 million. Microstrategy harnessed the funds to purchase more BTC into its reserve. In April 2023, the firm bought an additional 1, 045 BTC.

MicroStrategy has acquired an additional 1,045 #bitcoin for ~ $29.3M at an average price of $28,016 per bitcoin. As of 4/4/2023 @MicroStrategy holds 140,000 bitcoin acquired for ~$4.17 billion at an average price of $29,803 per bitcoin. $MSTR https://t.co/IBufTxalnv

— Michael Saylor⚡️ (@saylor) April 5, 2023

In June 2023, it also purchased another 12,333 BTC equivalent to $370 million at that time. According to Saylor, the crypto was bought at $28,136 per BTC. Occasioned by these acquisitions, the firm is now holding over 0.543% of BTC minted so far.

MicroStrategy has acquired an additional 12,333 BTC for ~$347.0 million at an average price of $28,136 per #bitcoin. As of 6/27/23 @MicroStrategy hodls 152,333 $BTC acquired for ~$4.52 billion at an average price of $29,668 per bitcoin. $MSTR https://t.co/joHo1gEnR0

— Michael Saylor⚡️ (@saylor) June 28, 2023

Meanwhile, no credible source has been able to confirm if Saylor holds NFT tokens. Our findings reveal that he has never spoken about investing in NFTs either personally or through his firm.

Michael Sailor’s Net Worth – Our Verdict

We have been able to break down the net worth of Michael Saylor, with emphasis on his assets, investments and influence in the crypto industry. Our findings showed that the billionaire is a proud owner of MicroStrategy, a company that has continued to invest in BTC. Certainly, MicroStrategy’s significant investment in BTC establishes Saylor’s belief in the superiority of the token.

Apart from the investment in the token by his firm, Saylor also owns a huge amount of BTC in his personal portfolio. This thus makes him a BTC whale, whose future decisions will consequently impact the token’s price performance.

However, Michael Saylor is still facing trial over tax evasion in the District of Columbia. Although the Court had already dismissed the motion seeking the imposition of a $100 million fine on Saylor in line with the False Claims Act, the case is not near its end. As the trial continues, it is important to note that the net worth of Michael Saylor will be slightly impacted if found guilty of the allegation in the end.

FAQS