Microsoft shareholders vote down bitcoin investment proposal
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Microsoft shareholders have voted down a proposal to force the board to specifically evaluate investing some of the company's assets in bitcoin, following the recommendation directors.
Why it matters: Exchange-traded products in the U.S. have given institutional investors ready access to the original cryptocurrency, but the Microsoft decision shows that not everyone wants in quite yet.
The latest: A Microsoft spokesperson tells Axios that there was very low support for the proposal by shareholders.
Catch up quick: The shareholder proposal came from the National Center for Public Policy Research, a conservative think tank.
- Typically, corporate treasuries invest a company's excess capital in lower risk assets like U.S. government securities and corporate bonds.
- The NCPPR argued that given recent higher rates of inflation, public companies have a fiduciary duty to consider assets like bitcoin, "which can offer higher returns."
Part of the reason Microsoft's board found the proposal unnecessary, however, was because it already considers such investments.
- "Microsoft's Global Treasury and Investment Services team evaluates a wide range of investable assets to fund Microsoft's ongoing operations, including assets expected to provide diversification and inflation protection," the company told investors in a proxy filing before the vote. And that includes bitcoin and other crypto, it said.
Yes, but: Volatility, it said, is a factor. Corporate treasury applications "require stable and predictable investments to ensure liquidity and operational funding."
Zoom out: Most public companies that hold bitcoin are tied to the cryptocurrency industry, but a few of the biggest holders (such as MicroStrategy, Block, Inc. and Tesla) are not.
What we're watching: Details on the final vote will be released in a filing in the next few days.
- NCPPR submitted the same shareholder proposal for consideration at Amazon.
