Microsoft Should Abandon Stock Buybacks for Bitcoin
At Strategy World 2025, MicroStrategy founder Michael Saylor delivered a bold message to tech giants like Microsoft: stop stock buybacks and buy Bitcoin instead. “Microsoft is going to do a buyback,” Saylor said. “Buying Bitcoin would be 10x better than buying their own stock.” Backed by data, he argued that corporate treasuries are leaving massive upside on the table by sticking with legacy capital strategies.
Bitcoin's 62% Annual Return Trounces Microsoft Stock
Over the last five years, Microsoft stock has returned an impressive 18% annually. But Bitcoin? It's up 62% annually over that same stretch. “If the cost of capital is the S&P 500 at 14%, Microsoft is outperforming by 4%. Bitcoin is outperforming by 48%,” Saylor emphasized. “Bonds, by the way, are down 5%—underperforming by 19%.” These figures show Bitcoin is not just a better-performing asset—it's a fundamentally different type of asset.
Bitcoin as 'Digital Capital': A New Asset Class
Saylor described Bitcoin as 'digital capital' and compared it to a digital building—one that is invisible, untouchable, and immortal. “Everything you hate about a physical building, that it's visible and the mayor can rent control it and weather can strike it—everything you hate about it goes away,” he said. “Instead, the building becomes invisible, indestructible, immortal, and teleportable.” He argued that a company like Microsoft—which built its dominance on digital infrastructure—should now be powered by digital capital. “Everything digital is better. Digital pictures are better. Digital relationships, digital messages, digital videos. Don't believe me? Ask Kodak. Ask Polaroid.”
Bitcoin's Unique Advantages: Uncorrelated and Censorship-Resistant
Saylor also highlighted Bitcoin's uncorrelated nature: “You're going to hold something on your balance sheet that's not correlated to everything else,” he said. “You can do stock buybacks, dividend out your cash flow, or you can embrace the future.” For him, the future is clear: a company sitting on billions in cash should consider the upside of Bitcoin—a decentralized, borderless, censorship-resistant asset with the best performance record of the past decade. “You've got to find something that's not exposed to competitors, countries, corporations, creditors, currencies, or cultures. And that's Bitcoin,” he concluded.