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Business intelligence platform MicroStrategy has reaffirmed its commitment to its Bitcoin (BTC) investment strategy after posting its first quarterly profit since 2020.
The Michael Saylor-founded firm returned to profit in the first quarter of 2023 with a profit of $94 million, largely due to a one-time income tax credit of $453.2 million.
Fong Li, the firm’s chief executive officer, explained in a May 1 statement that MicroStrategy’s “persuasion” in its Bitcoin (BTC) investment strategy is as “strong” as ever:
“The conviction in our bitcoin strategy remains strong as the digital asset environment continues to evolve.”
In addition to the tax credit, the firm generated $121.9 million in revenue, up 2.2% year-over-year.
Please join the @MicroStrategy management team at 5pm ET as we discuss our Q1 2023 $MSTR financial results and answers questions about our business and outlook for #BusinessIntelligence and #Bitcoin.https://t.co/pHrjKvWsDU
— Michael Saylor⚡️ (@saylor) May 1, 2023
Andrew Kang, the firm’s chief financial officer, said the firm also managed to reduce its debt burden by repaying a $161 million Bitcoin-backed loan from the now-defunct Silverage Bank:
“In the first quarter, we strengthened our capital structure by de-leveraging, repaying our Bitcoin-backed loan in full.”
The business intelligence firm bought 7,500 BTC in the first quarter in two purchases on March 23 and April 5 for a total of $179 million, according to previous SEC filings.
The firm currently owns 140,000 BTC, which were purchased in aggregate at an average price of around $29,803.
The firm’s line-up turned profitable as BTC managed to climb 72% in the first quarter to around $28,300.
Related: MicroStrategy stock price to more than double in 2023 in step with Bitcoin
With the price of BTC currently at $28,100, MicroStrategy has lost about 5.7% of its Bitcoin investment.
However, the company was in the black for a while last month when BTC soared to its latest high of $30,980 on April 15.
Since @MicroStrategy adopted a #Bitcoin Strategy: pic.twitter.com/rrYTbvOkUS
— Michael Saylor⚡️ (@saylor) May 1, 2023
The software analytics firm began investing its cash reserves in BTC on March 5, 2021, when it bought 91,064 BTC — 65% of its total holdings to date.
Saylor recently revealed that MicroStrategy has integrated Bitcoin Lightning into his corporate email address.
The bitcoin-savvy firm is also in the process of developing software for corporations based on the Lightning Network of the second layer of Bitcoin as a service tool.