Tysons-based MicroStrategy names new CFO

Company could face big payment to back bank loan

Published May 6, 2022 by Courtney Mabeus

Tysons-based business software company MicroStrategy Inc., best known for its nearly $4 billion investment in bitcoin since 2020, has announced that Andrew Kang will be its new senior executive vice president and chief financial officer, starting next week.

Kang takes over for Phong Le, who has served as CFO and president. After Kang’s start date, on or about May 9, Le will continue as president. The change in leadership comes as news broke that MicroStrategy will have to pay more cryptocurrency to back a $205 million loan with Silvergate Bank if Bitcoin’s price falls below $21,000, or around 50% from current levels, Le said in an earnings call on Tuesday.

Kang has served as executive vice president and CFO for Atlanta-based technology firm GreenSky Inc. since September 2020, MicroStrategy said in a release announcing the hire May 3. He has also served as corporate treasurer for Santander Holdings USA, the $150 billion holding company under Banco Santander S.A., and executive vice president for auto finance company Santander Consumer US. He has also worked for Exeter Finance, HSBC Finance, Capital One Financial Corp. and Thomson Reuters. Kang received a bachelor’s degree in biology and a certificate in accounting from the University of Virginia.

“We are excited to welcome Andrew to our management team,” MicroStrategy founder and CEO Michael Saylor said in a statement. “Andrew has extensive finance leadership and capital markets experience, making him an excellent choice as MicroStrategy’s next chief financial officer. I believe he will make significant contributions to our business as we continue to execute on MicroStrategy’s enterprise software and Bitcoin strategies.”

MicroStrategy has been an aggressive supporter of Bitcoin, and Saylor is chief among the cryptocurrency’s evangelists. In an earnings call Tuesday, Le said MicroStrategy seeks “to acquire and hold bitcoin in long term. We view our Bitcoin holdings as long-term holdings and we do not currently plan to engage in sales of bitcoin,” according to a transcript.

As of March 31, the company owns 129,218 bitcoins acquired for a total $3.97 billion, or $30,700 per bitcoin, and the market value of its holdings was $5.9 billion, Le said. Of those coins, about 19,500 are pledged as collateral toward a bitcoin-backed loan while more than 95,600 “remain unplugged and unencumbered,” Le said.

Though the currency has tumbled in value in recent months, Le said MicroStrategy is “insulated from the near-term market volatility of bitcoin prices since we currently do not have any debt principal maturities coming due until March 2025.” The company also has cash flow generated from its software business to cover interest obligations and it maintains a “certain minimum amount of cash balance to fund our regular working capital needs,” he said.

  Subscribe to Virginia Business. Get our daily e-newsletter.