Strategy Spent $635 Million to Support Its Preferred Stock STRC

Key takeaways:

• Strategy has spent $635.2 million on buybacks of its STRC preferred stock.
• The price stands at $97, still below the $100 par value.
• Competitor Strive is successfully keeping its own shares at par thanks to a 13% dividend.

Strategy has spent $635.2 million to buy back STRC, its perpetual preferred stock, which is still struggling to return to its $100 par value. The stock was trading at $97, despite a recent $151.8 million buyback executed at an average price of $97.48.

Strategy has acquired 4,603 BTC for $370M, increased USD Cash by $29M, and repurchased $152M of $STRC. As of 8/30/26, we hold 845,050 bitcoin:native and $6.71B of USD Assets, bringing Net Leverage to 0.0%. $MSTR https://t.co/XAAEZV5Gil

— Michael Saylor (@saylor) August 31, 2026

Why par value matters so much

The stakes go beyond accounting optics. When a preferred stock trades at par, it allows the company to issue new shares at will, effectively raising capital without diluting common shareholders.

Below par, that funding tap turns off. This is precisely the constraint that led Strategy to sell bitcoin earlier this month to fund its preferred dividends, and subsequently divest common shares to fuel its buybacks.

The $1 billion program authorized this summer has had an impact. The stock has climbed from a floor near $71 to around $97, a gain of over a third. Buybacks have actually increased as the price rose, which essentially means paying a premium for each incremental point of progress.

Strive's competition complicates the effort

A direct rival helps explain this struggle. SATA, the perpetual preferred stock from Strive, offers a 13% annualized dividend paid daily, compared to 12% paid twice a month for STRC.

The gap may seem slim, but the consequences are significant. SATA has held around its $100 par value for over a week, allowing Strive to issue new shares via its at-the-market program. Those proceeds have funded the acquisition of 1,800 bitcoins over the past week.

In other words, one player has a functioning financing engine, while the other must spend hundreds of millions just to try and jump-start its own.

The gap is also visible in common stocks

This divergence is reflected in the main equities of both companies. ASST, Strive's stock, is up 60% year-to-date, while MSTR is down 15%.

What allocation priorities reveal

A comparison of the amounts committed highlights the hierarchy adopted by Strategy.

The firm has dedicated $635.2 million to supporting its preferred stock since the program began, compared to $369.7 million for bitcoin purchases last week—its first acquisition in two months.

These 4,603 bitcoins, acquired at around $80,000, bring the treasury total to 845,050 units, valued at approximately $65.9 billion.

What's next?

Two indicators will dictate what happens next.

First, the return of STRC to $100 remains the management's stated goal and is the prerequisite for raising capital without divesting assets. It is less than 3% away, but those final points come at a high cost.

Then there is the pace of bitcoin purchases, which anchors the company's investment thesis. A treasury-focused firm that spends more money supporting its own shares than acquiring the asset it is supposed to be hoarding may face questions from its shareholders regarding consistency.

The market environment also remains uncertain, with bitcoin hovering around $78,000 and the probability of a U.S. rate hike in September estimated at approximately 64%.

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Alex