Why Michael Saylor’s MicroStrategy wants STRC dividends twice a month — and why it matters for bitcoin buying
MicroStrategy (MSTR), the bitcoin-focused treasury company led by Michael Saylor, is proposing a seemingly small change to its perpetual preferred stock, STRC: switch the dividend schedule from monthly to semi-monthly (twice per month). The company says the tweak would keep the same 11.5% annualized dividend and unchanged annual cash obligations (about $1.2 billion), but could meaningfully smooth STRC’s market price and improve MicroStrategy’s ability to raise capital for further bitcoin purchases.
What’s changing
- Payout cadence: instead of one monthly payment, STRC holders would receive roughly bi-monthly payouts (about every two weeks).
- Timing: the first semi-monthly payment would be expected on July 15 if shareholders approve the amendment at the June 8 vote.
- Economics: the annual dividend rate and total yearly payout stay the same — only the timing changes.
Why MicroStrategy says this helps
- Ex-dividend price drag: STRC typically falls around $0.45 on average after the ex-dividend date, and historically takes about two weeks to recover back toward its $100 par value. That drop is standard — stocks usually fall by roughly the dividend amount on the ex-date — but the recovery window creates concentrated volatility.
- Capital-raising constraints: when STRC trades below its $100 par value, MicroStrategy cannot issue new STRC shares through its at-the-market (ATM) program. Those issuances are a core way MicroStrategy raises cash to buy more bitcoin. Keeping STRC nearer to par would therefore allow steadier use of the ATM program.
- Smoother buying pressure: by splitting one larger monthly payout into two smaller, more frequent payments, MicroStrategy expects reduced price swings, less reinvestment lag, and a more even cadence of buying pressure — enabling steadier bitcoin purchases.
- Timing synergy: MicroStrategy notes the semi-monthly schedule lines up with the U.S. twice-monthly payroll cycle, creating more natural entry and exit points for investors and potentially lowering volatility.
Data and market context
- According to MicroStrategy’s presentation, STRC’s historical volatility averaged 13% from August 2025 to March 2026, then fell to about 2% between March and April 2026. The firm points to a post-ex-dividend dip where STRC fell below $99 after the April 15 ex-dividend date — a drop of more than $1 — as the sort of volatility it hopes to reduce.
- If approved, STRC would be unique: MicroStrategy says there are 921 preferreds that pay quarterly, 32 that pay monthly, and STRC would likely be the only semi-monthly preferred in the market.
- A technical constraint: Nasdaq rules require at least 10 calendar days between a dividend’s declaration and the record date, a timing detail the company must respect.
Bottom line
The change doesn’t alter how much cash MicroStrategy pays to preferred holders over the year, but it aims to reduce short-term price swings that can impede MicroStrategy’s ability to raise capital via STRC. For a company that uses equity issuance to fund bitcoin accumulation, smoothing the preferred’s price path could make further purchases more predictable and less lumpy — an operational tweak with direct implications for its accumulation strategy.
Disclosure: the author of the original story owns shares in MicroStrategy (MSTR).
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