The bull market has been canceled: MicroStrategy co-founder Michael Saylor is on the cover of Forbes. What is the connection?

Michael Saylor, co-founder and executive chairman of MicroStrategy, appeared on the cover of Forbes magazine with the inscription «The Bitcoin Alchemist». Thus, the publication emphasized his significant impact on the introduction of bitcoin in the corporate sector and its popularization as a strategic asset.

The businessman co-founded MicroStrategy in 1989 as a software development firm that initially focused on data mining and business intelligence. In 2000, the company faced problems due to an investigation by the US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The company had to pay a huge fine as part of a settlement over its accounting practices. This resulted in a financial blow. In addition, the dot-com bubble burst in the 2000s. From March of that year to October 2002, NASDAQ lost almost 80% of its capitalization. The shares of many companies plunged, and so did the accounts of ordinary investors. This dealt a severe blow to MicroStrategy as well. For 20 years, Sailor’s company remained stagnant until he decided to take a bold step.

In 2020, Saylor decided to invest a significant portion of MicroStrategy’s funds in bitcoin, which was a turning point for the company. This not only increased MicroStrategy’s market capitalization, but also contributed to the growth of Saylor’s personal wealth. According to Forbes, his net worth is $8.8 billion as of January 30, 2025.

Saylor’s strategy to integrate bitcoin into the company’s balance sheet has inspired other corporations to consider cryptocurrency as part of their financial portfolios and strategic decisions. Sailor, 59, has also gained a reputation as one of the main supporters of bitcoin.

What will happen to MicroStrategy if bitcoin falls?

MicroStrategy is now worth $84 billion, despite having only $48 billion in bitcoin on its balance sheet. What will happen if bitcoin crashes, like in 2018 or 2022? According to Michael, MicroStrategy has time. Bitcoin needs to fall by more than 80% and stay at this level for 2 years before the company starts having problems.

Cryptocurrency and superstition

Oddly enough, one of the superstitions also applies to Mike Saylor. More precisely, the fact that the prominent crypto figure appeared on the cover. There are reminders on social media that the most dramatic market drops occurred after the 2018 and 2022 issues of the magazine with successful crypto businessmen on the cover.

• Initially, it was the founder of the largest crypto exchange Binance, Changpeng CZ Zhao. After this issue was published, the so-called big cryptocrash happened. In the first quarter of the year of unprecedented growth in 2017, the price of bitcoin fell by almost 2.2 times (65%) within a month, and almost all other cryptocurrencies fell as well. By the end of the year, the exchange rate of the leading cryptocurrencies had fallen by 5.7 times (82.5%) compared to their peak.
• Then there was the collapse of the FTX crypto exchange in 2022 due to a large-scale fraud committed by Sam Bankman-Fried and his partner Caroline Allison. This led to a domino effect and a long crypto winter.
• Now it’s Michael Saylor’s turn to succeed. After the publication of the article, the crypto market really went downhill. Bitcoin dropped below the psychological mark of $100 thousand, most altcoins lost value, and the total liquidation amounted to more than $2 billion. However, Bybit CEO Ben Zhou saidThe real figure is at least about $8-10 billion.

We remind you that the American MicroStrategy, founded by Sailor, leads the list of public companies that own bitcoin. As of February 2, she had 471,107 bitcoins in her accounts, purchased for a total of about $30.4 billion.