(Bloomberg) -- MicroStrategy Inc., the largest publicly-traded corporate holder of Bitcoin, said it will conduct a 10-for-1 stock split to make the shares more accessible to investors and employees.
The shares have surged around 1,000% since the enterprise software company started buying Bitcoin in 2020, outpacing gains in the cryptocurrency, which is up more than 500% over the same period. The stock rose 7.7% to $1,406 as of 10 am in New York.
Michael Saylor, the chairman and co-founder of MicroStrategy, embarked on buying Bitcoin as an inflation hedge and alternative to holding cash. The company has amassed 226,331 Bitcoin worth about $13.3 billion.
The average price that MicroStrategy has spent on each Bitcoin is approximately $37,000, according to a company filing. Bitcoin rose about 1.9% to $58,468 on Thursday.
The split of the Class A and Class B common shares will be to holders of record as of Aug. 1. The new shares are expected to be distributed Aug. 7. MicroStrategy last split its stock in 2002.
(Updates the share price in the second paragraph.)
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