Shareholders at Microsoft have voted against a proposal to add Bitcoin to its balance sheet. The vote which was conducted during the firm’s annual meeting held on December 10 2024, saw only 0.55% vote in favour of the proposal.
The proposal was introduced by the National Center for public Policy Research (NCPPR). In its proposal, it emphasized that “a company’s value is measured not only by how profitable its primary business is, but also by how well it stores the profits from that business. NCPPR recommended that Microsoft invest one percent of its treasury, which stands at roughly $800 million, in Bitcoin.
The Board of Directors had, however, already recommended on Oct 24 that the proposal be rejected. In its opposing statement, the board emphasized that corporate treasury requires stable and predictable investments, and highly volatile assets like Bitcoin are less suitable for ensuring liquidity and operational funding.
The board also explained that the company is already evaluating a wide range of investable assets to fund Microsoft’s ongoing operations, including assets expected to provide diversification and inflation protection alternatives and mitigate the risk of significant economic loss from rising interest rates. It added that past evaluations have included Bitcoin and other digital assets.
Bitcoin’s Corporate Adoption
Inspite of Microsoft’s stance on bitcoin, the conversation around its adoption at the corporate level has continued to gain traction, with Microstrategy boss, Micheal Saylor as the lead evangelist.
Before the votes at Microsoft’s annual meeting, Micheal Saylor posted a three-minute video presentation on X for Microsoft’s board of directors. In the video, Saylor started by saying that “Microsoft cannot afford to miss the next technology wave, and Bitcoin is that wave”.
He emphasized that introducing Bitcoin into Microsoft’s treasury could position the firm at a $5 trillion dollar marketcap by 2034. He also warned that failing to integrate Bitcoin could potentially leave Microsoft behind in the tech companies’ race.
Saylor’s Microstrategy Currently holds 423,650 bitcoins worth around $40 billion at current prices. This has caused the company’s shares to soar by 443% in 2024 alone. It shortly reached a new all-time high of $473 per share, and currently sits at $404 per share.
