Markets · Corporate filings
Strategy raises its preferred stock buyback to $3 billion, filing shows
Strategy's board added $1 billion to its preferred stock buyback after a third straight week of more than $175 million in STRC repurchases, its Oct. 19 filing shows, leaving $1.16 billion of room.
Strategy's board added $1 billion to its preferred stock buyback, lifting the cap to $3.0 billion after the old limit had nearly run out, the company said in a Form 8-K filed before Monday's open [1]. That lets Strategy, which holds 848,517 bitcoin [1], keep retiring its STRC preferred stock, on which it spent $193.1 million last week, against $22.1 million of bitcoin purchases.
Under the new limit, $1.16 billion of buyback capacity remained as of Oct. 18 [1], enough for about six more weeks at the recent pace, by Le Coin's arithmetic.
What the filing says
The board approved "an increase in the aggregate purchase price authorized under its digital credit securities repurchase program from $2.0 billion to $3.0 billion," a cap that includes fees and every repurchase made under the program so far [1]. Strategy calls its preferred shares "digital credit," and the program covers all four of its U.S.-listed preferred series: STRF, STRC, STRK and STRD. Strategy set the program up on June 29 at $1.0 billion and said it "has no fixed expiration date" [5]; the board doubled it to $2.0 billion, Strategy disclosed on Sept. 8 [6]. Monday's raise is the program's second.
From Oct. 12 to Oct. 18, Strategy repurchased 1,938,780 STRC shares for $193.1 million, funded, the filing says, with "$193.1 million of USD Cash" [1]. It bought 267 BTC for $22.1 million, funded with $22.0 million from sales of its MSTR common stock and $0.1 million of cash. Holdings reached 848,517 BTC [1].
STRC, or Variable Rate Series A Perpetual Stretch Preferred Stock, is a preferred share whose dividend rate Strategy sets month by month. In an 8-K accepted Oct. 16, Strategy said management will recommend holding that rate at 12.00% "until STRC has demonstrated sustained, healthy trading near $100 per share" [4].
Three weeks of filings
The table sets this week beside the two before it, all from Strategy's own 8-Ks [1][2][3]. The pattern holds every week: $176 million to $193 million of STRC bought back against $21.5 million to $28.7 million of bitcoin.
| Week | STRC repurchased | Bitcoin bought | Buyback room left after the week |
|---|---|---|---|
| Sept. 28 to Oct. 4 [3] | 1,773,802 shares, $176.3M | 334 BTC, $28.7M | $547.2M |
| Oct. 5 to Oct. 11 [2] | 1,932,145 shares, $192.4M | 250 BTC, $21.5M | $354.8M |
| Oct. 12 to Oct. 18 [1] | 1,938,780 shares, $193.1M | 267 BTC, $22.1M | $1.16B (after the raise) |
| Total (Le Coin's sum) | 5,644,727 shares, $561.8M | 851 BTC, $72.3M |
Fig. 1. Each week, the green STRC bar is at least six times the grey bitcoin bar, and the gap widened after the first week (sources 1 to 3). The first bar combines the Oct. 5 filing's two windows, Sept. 28 to 30 and Oct. 1 to 4; Strategy bought no bitcoin in the first of them [3].
By Le Coin's arithmetic, the three weeks of STRC buybacks came to about 7.8 times the bitcoin spend, and 8.7 times in the latest week alone. In our Oct. 6 piece, the first of these weeks ran at about 6.1 times.
The raise arrived as the old limit was nearly spent. Before it, the program had about $161.7 million left: $354.8 million on Oct. 11 [2] minus last week's $193.1 million. That is less than one more week at the current rate. Subtracting the $1.16 billion left from the new $3.0 billion cap shows about $1.84 billion already used.
Where the money comes from
Strategy runs two dollar pools. The "USD Reserve" is meant to pay preferred dividends and debt interest; "USD Cash" is for "broader general Bitcoin Treasury Company purposes," which the filing says may include buying bitcoin and "broader capital management uses" [1].
USD Cash is the pool doing the work. It fell from $833.4 million on Oct. 4 [3] to $640.5 million on Oct. 11 [2] and $447.3 million on Oct. 18 [1], a drop of about $193 million in each of the last two weeks. The Oct. 12 release does not say how that week's buyback was paid for, though the cash drop matches the buyback plus $0.5 million for bitcoin. The USD Reserve stood at $4.83 billion, after $45.5 million went to preferred dividends last week [1].
In Le Coin's view, cash, not the cap, is the near-term limit. The $447.3 million of USD Cash equals a little over two weeks of buybacks at last week's size, against $1.16 billion of program room. Strategy's June framework says buybacks "will not be funded from the USD Reserve," and lets the company sell bitcoin under a separate monetization program to pay for them [5]. Refilling USD Cash would take stock sales or bitcoin sales.
The objection
In Le Coin's view, the strongest objection is that an STRC buyback is not money lost to bitcoin. Each share retired is one fewer share drawing STRC's dividend, which Strategy says will run at 12.00% a year for November if the daily-dividend change takes effect [4], and that eases the drain on the USD Reserve. The company also still bought bitcoin every week, mostly with common stock sales; $13.0 million of the first week's $28.7 million came from USD Cash [3].
What to watch
Whether USD Cash keeps falling by about $190 million a week, and whether Strategy restocks it with MSTR or preferred stock sales or turns to bitcoin sales under its monetization program [5]. Its at-the-market updates show no preferred sales in any of the three weeks [1][2][3]. Shareholders vote on Oct. 28 on letting STRC and certain other preferred series pay dividends daily [4]; the board has already declared daily November STRC dividends that are payable only if the vote passes and the amended terms take effect by Nov. 1.
Sources
- Strategy Inc, Form 8-K dated Oct. 19, 2026 (accession 0001193125-26-424688), https://www.sec.gov/Archives/edgar/data/1050446/000119312526424688/mstr-20261019.htm, accessed 2026-10-19, 9:26 a.m. ET.
- Strategy Inc, Form 8-K dated Oct. 12, 2026, Exhibit 99.1 (accession 0001193125-26-419726), https://www.sec.gov/Archives/edgar/data/1050446/000119312526419726/mstr-ex99_1.htm, accessed 2026-10-19, 9:26 a.m. ET.
- Strategy Inc, Form 8-K dated Oct. 5, 2026 (accession 0001193125-26-413164), https://www.sec.gov/Archives/edgar/data/1050446/000119312526413164/mstr-20261005.htm, accessed 2026-10-19, 9:26 a.m. ET.
- Strategy Inc, Form 8-K dated Oct. 15, 2026 (accession 0001193125-26-423400), https://www.sec.gov/Archives/edgar/data/1050446/000119312526423400/mstr-20261015.htm, accessed 2026-10-19, 9:26 a.m. ET.
- Strategy Inc, Form 8-K dated June 29, 2026 (accession 0001193125-26-286871), https://www.sec.gov/Archives/edgar/data/1050446/000119312526286871/mstr-20260629.htm, accessed 2026-10-19, 9:29 a.m. ET.
- Strategy Inc, Form 8-K dated Sept. 8, 2026 (accession 0001193125-26-384402), https://www.sec.gov/Archives/edgar/data/1050446/000119312526384402/mstr-20260831.htm, accessed 2026-10-19, 9:29 a.m. ET.
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