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Michael Saylor to step down as MicroStrategy CEO as the software maker records $917 million charge on bitcoin investment

MicroStrategy’s founder Michael Saylor has resigned as CEO. This is after the enterprise software manufacturer took a quarterly impairment charge exceeding $900 million due to the fall in the price Bitcoin.

The newly created position of executive chairman will be filled by Saylor, while the chairman will continue to hold the title, company stated in a statement that was released late Tuesday with its second-quarter results.

Saylor stated that he will be the Executive Chairman and be able to concentrate more on the bitcoin acquisition strategy and related advocacy initiatives. He also noted that the CEO and chairman roles will be divided.

Phong Le, MicroStrategy’s president, was elected CEO. Saylor, who founded MicroStrategy back in 1989, stated that he ‘will be empowered to manage all corporate operations.

These changes will take effect on August 8. The company also announced that its second quarter results partially reflect a $917.8m digital asset impairment charge. This charge is a result of MicroStrategy’s bitcoin investment, which saw its price plunge this year following a record high of $68,000 in November.

Bitcoin traded at $23,385 Wednesday. The wider cryptocurrency market was caught up in a crypto winter, which has seen its value drop from $3 Trillion to $1.1 Trillion over the course of nine months.

Saylor repeatedly stated that MicroStrategy would continue buying bitcoin, and he believes the crypto asset is the best store of value.

MicroStrategy reported a $1.062 billion net loss for the second quarter, or $94.01 per share. This is an increase from $299.3million, or $30.71 per share, a year ago. The second quarter loss from operations was $918.1million, compared to $414.2million in the previous year.

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