Michael Saylor, chairman and chief executive officer at MicroStrategy, during an interview at the Bitcoin 2023 conference in Miami Beach, Florida, US, on Thursday, May 18, 2023.
Eva Marie Uzcategui | Bloomberg | Getty Images
On the eve of MicroStrategy‘s stock market debut in June 1998, founder Michael Saylor stayed in a penthouse suite at the Lotte New York Palace in Midtown Manhattan. Saylor, who was 33 at the time, says it was the most exquisite hotel room he’d ever seen, paid for by lead underwriter Merrill Lynch.
The next morning, Saylor went to the floor of the Nasdaq to watch his company’s stock open. He recalled seeing a note scrolling across the ticker, warning traders: “Please do not confuse MSTR with MSFT.” The latter belonged to Microsoft, the software giant that had gone public 12 years earlier.
MicroStrategy shares popped 76% in their debut, joining the parade of tech companies benefiting from the dot-com boom.
“It was a good day,” …