Strategy doubled the size of its preferred-stock repurchase program to $2 billion on Tuesday as an informal recovery milestone arrived with STRC shares still trading below their $100 stated value. The board’s decision extends a campaign that was nearing the limits of its original $1 billion authorization after seven weeks of purchases.
Data from STRC.live indicated that STRC entered Tuesday trading around $97 to $98, leaving the variable-rate preferred security roughly 2% below the level Strategy has worked to restore over the summer. The milestone arrived on Sept. 8, a date compared by Michael Saylor to the roughly 70 trading days the security initially needed to climb from its $90 offering price to $100.
Between Aug. 31 and Sept. 7, Strategy acquired 1.81 million STRC shares for $176.3 million, marking its largest weekly purchase to date and bringing cumulative spending since July to approximately $811.5 million. The new ceiling leaves the company with $1.19 billion available across the repurchase program.
The spending pattern has contrasted with management's initial framework, which anticipated reducing purchases as the discount narrowed and outside demand took over. Instead, weekly spending increased progressively from $25 million in the first week to over $176 million, meaning the cost of supporting STRC rose even as the discount shrank from more than 13% to under 3%.
The latest STRC repurchases were funded entirely from the company's USD Cash balance, which stood at $1.44 billion at period-end, while no shares were sold through its at-the-market program and no Bitcoin was purchased during that weekly period. Strategy's separate USD Reserve stood at $5.10 billion to support preferred-stock dividends and debt interest, while the company held 845,050 Bitcoin as of Sept. 7.
Strategy aims to return STRC to $100 because the perpetual funding vehicle was designed to have its variable dividend adjusted to keep its market price near par. Under company policy, additional STRC cannot be issued below par, limiting its utility as a financing tool until it reliably trades at $100.
