TYSONS CORNER, Va.--(BUSINESS WIRE)-- MicroStrategy® Incorporated (Nasdaq: MSTR) (“MicroStrategy”), the largest independent publicly-traded business intelligence company, today announced financial results for the three-month period ended December 31, 2021 (the fourth quarter of its 2021 fiscal year).

“2021 was another transformational year for MicroStrategy. Our software business returned to positive revenue growth for the first time since 2014, highlighted by our enterprise analytics business delivering another strong quarter as we saw a growing adoption of the MicroStrategy platform, especially in the Cloud,” said Michael J. Saylor, CEO, MicroStrategy.

“We also significantly expanded our bitcoin holdings in the quarter, adding over 10,300 bitcoins to our holdings after successfully raising capital in the quarter through our at-the-market equity offering. Today, MicroStrategy is the world’s largest publicly traded corporate owner of bitcoin with over 125,000 bitcoins. We will continue to evaluate opportunities to raise additional capital to execute on our bitcoin acquisition strategy.”

Fourth Quarter 2021 Financial Highlights

• Revenues: Total revenues for the fourth quarter of 2021 were $134.5 million, a 2.4% increase, or a 4.4% increase on a non-GAAP constant currency basis, compared to the fourth quarter of 2020. Product licenses and subscription services revenues for the fourth quarter of 2021 were $44.4 million, a 15.1% increase, or an 18.3% increase on a non-GAAP constant currency basis, compared to the fourth quarter of 2020. Product support revenues for the fourth quarter of 2021 were $69.1 million, a 3.8% decrease, or a 2.5% decrease on a non-GAAP constant currency basis, compared to the fourth quarter of 2020. Other services revenues for the fourth quarter of 2021 were $21.0 million, an immaterial change, or a 2.4% increase on a non-GAAP constant currency basis, compared to the fourth quarter of 2020.
• Gross Profit: Gross profit for the fourth quarter of 2021 was $110.5 million, representing an 82.2% gross margin, compared to a gross margin of 84.2% in the fourth quarter of 2020.
• Operating Expenses: Operating expenses for the fourth quarter of 2021 were $248.0 million, a 125.1% increase compared to the fourth quarter of 2020. Operating expenses include impairment losses on MicroStrategy’s digital assets, which were $146.6 million during the fourth quarter of 2021, compared to $26.5 million in the fourth quarter of 2020.
• (Loss) Income from Operations and Net (Loss) Income: Loss from operations for the fourth quarter of 2021 was $137.5 million versus income from operations of $0.4 million for the fourth quarter of 2020. Net loss for the fourth quarter of 2021 was $90.0 million, or $8.43 per share on a diluted basis, as compared to net income of $2.7 million, or $0.27 per share on a diluted basis, for the fourth quarter of 2020. Digital asset impairment charges of $146.6 million and $26.5 million for the fourth quarter of 2021 and 2020, respectively, were reflected in these amounts.
• Cash and Cash Equivalents: As of December 31, 2021, MicroStrategy had cash and cash equivalents of $63.4 million, as compared to $59.7 million as of December 31, 2020, an increase of $3.7 million.
• Digital Assets: As of December 31, 2021, the carrying value of MicroStrategy’s digital assets (comprised of approximately 124,391 bitcoins) was $2.850 billion, which reflects cumulative impairment losses of $901.3 million since acquisition and an average carrying amount per bitcoin of approximately $22,913. As of December 31, 2021, the original cost basis and market value of MicroStrategy’s bitcoin were $3.752 billion and $5.707 billion, respectively, which reflects an average cost per bitcoin of approximately $30,159 and a market price per bitcoin of $45,879.97, respectively. Additional information on MicroStrategy’s digital asset holdings is included in the “Digital Assets – Additional Information” tables at the end of this press release.
• Open Market Sale Agreement: On June 14, 2021, MicroStrategy entered into an Open Market Sale Agreement (the “Open Market Sale Agreement”) with Jefferies LLC, as agent (“Jefferies”), pursuant to which MicroStrategy issued and sold shares of its class A common stock having an aggregate offering price of approximately $1.0 billion from time to time through Jefferies. During the three months ended December 31, 2021 the Company sold 858,588 shares of its class A common stock under the Open Market Sale Agreement, at an average gross price per share of approximately $694.20, for aggregate net proceeds (less $5.0 million in sales commissions and expenses) of approximately $591.0 million. As of December 31, 2021, the cumulative aggregate offering price of the shares of class A common stock sold under the Open Market Sale Agreement was approximately $1.0 billion, inclusive of sales commissions, constituting the maximum program amount under the Open Market Sale Agreement.

The tables at the end of this press release include a reconciliation of GAAP to non-GAAP financial measures for the three and twelve months ended December 31, 2021 and 2020. An explanation of non-GAAP financial measures is also included under the heading “Non-GAAP Financial Measures” below. Additional non-GAAP financial measures are included in MicroStrategy’s “Q4 2021 Earnings Presentation,” which will be available under the “Events and Presentations” section of MicroStrategy’s investor relations website at https://www.microstrategy.com/en/investor-relations.

MicroStrategy uses its Intelligent Enterprise™ platform across the enterprise and has created an interactive dossier with quarterly financial performance data. Anyone can access the MSTR Financials dossier via a web browser, or by downloading the MicroStrategy Library™ app on an iOS or Android device. To download the native apps, visit MicroStrategy Library for iOS or MicroStrategy Library for Android.

Non-GAAP Financial Measures

MicroStrategy is providing supplemental financial measures for (i) non-GAAP (loss) income from operations that excludes the impact of share-based compensation expense, (ii) non-GAAP net (loss) income and non-GAAP diluted (loss) earnings per share that exclude the impact of share-based compensation expense, interest expense arising from the amortization of debt issuance costs and (in 2020, before the adoption of Accounting Standards Update No. 2020-06, Debt – Debt with Conversion and Other Options (Subtopic 470-20) and Derivatives and Hedging – Contracts in Entity’s Own Equity (Subtopic 815-40): Accounting for Convertible Instruments and Contracts in an Entity’s Own Equity (“ASU 2020-06”)) the debt discount related to MicroStrategy’s long-term debt, and related income tax effects, and (iii) non-GAAP constant currency revenues that exclude foreign currency exchange rate fluctuations. These supplemental financial measures are not measurements of financial performance under generally accepted accounting principles in the United States (“GAAP”) and, as a result, these supplemental financial measures may not be comparable to similarly titled measures of other companies. Management uses these non-GAAP financial measures internally to help understand, manage, and evaluate business performance and to help make operating decisions.

MicroStrategy believes that these non-GAAP financial measures are also useful to investors and analysts in comparing its performance across reporting periods on a consistent basis. The first supplemental financial measure excludes a significant non-cash expense that MicroStrategy believes is not reflective of its general business performance, and for which the accounting requires management judgment and the resulting share-based compensation expense could vary significantly in comparison to other companies. The second set of supplemental financial measures excludes the impact of (i) share-based compensation expense, (ii) non-cash interest expense arising from the amortization of debt issuance costs and (in 2020, before the adoption of ASU 2020-06) the debt discount related to MicroStrategy’s long-term debt, and (iii) related income tax effects. The third set of supplemental financial measures excludes changes resulting from fluctuations in foreign currency exchange rates so that results may be compared to the same period in the prior year on a non-GAAP constant currency basis. MicroStrategy believes the use of these non-GAAP financial measures can also facilitate comparison of MicroStrategy’s operating results to those of its competitors.

Conference Call

MicroStrategy will be discussing its fourth quarter 2021 financial results on a live Video Webinar today beginning at approximately 5:00 p.m. EST. The live Video Webinar and accompanying presentation materials will be available under the “Events and Presentations” section of MicroStrategy’s investor relations website at https://www.microstrategy.com/en/investor-relations. Log-in instructions will be available after registering for the event. An archived replay of the event will be available beginning approximately two hours after the call concludes.

About MicroStrategy Incorporated

MicroStrategy (Nasdaq: MSTR) is the largest independent publicly-traded analytics and business intelligence company. The MicroStrategy analytics platform is consistently rated as the best in enterprise analytics and is used by many of the world’s most admired brands in the Fortune Global 500. We pursue two corporate strategies: (1) grow our enterprise analytics software business to promote our vision of Intelligence Everywhere and (2) acquire and hold bitcoin, which we view as a dependable store of value supported by a robust, public, open-source architecture untethered to sovereign monetary policy. For more information about MicroStrategy, visit www.microstrategy.com.

MicroStrategy, Intelligent Enterprise, and MicroStrategy Library are either trademarks or registered trademarks of MicroStrategy Incorporated in the United States and certain other countries. Other product and company names mentioned herein may be the trademarks of their respective owners.

This press release may include statements that may constitute “forward-looking statements,” including estimates of future business prospects or financial results and statements containing the words “believe,” “estimate,” “project,” “expect,” or similar expressions. Forward-looking statements inherently involve risks and uncertainties that could cause actual results of MicroStrategy Incorporated and its subsidiaries (collectively, the “Company”) to differ materially from the forward-looking statements. Factors that could contribute to such differences include: the market price of bitcoin and any associated impairment charges that the Company may incur as a result of a decrease in the market price below the value at which the Company’s bitcoins are carried on its balance sheet; gains or losses on sales of bitcoins that the Company would incur upon any sale of its bitcoins; changes in the accounting treatment of the Company’s bitcoin holdings; changes in securities laws or other laws or regulations relating to bitcoin that could adversely affect the price of bitcoin or the Company’s ability to own bitcoin; a decrease in liquidity in the markets in which bitcoins are traded; security breaches, cyberattacks, unauthorized access, loss of private keys, or fraud that results in the Company’s loss of its bitcoins; the level and terms of the Company’s substantial indebtedness and its ability to service such debt; the extent and timing of market acceptance of the Company’s new offerings; continued acceptance of the Company’s other products in the marketplace; the Company’s ability to recognize revenue or deferred revenue through delivery of products or satisfactory performance of services; the timing of significant orders; delays in or the inability of the Company to develop or ship new products; customers shifting from a product license model to a cloud subscription model, which may delay the Company’s ability to recognize revenue; fluctuations in tax benefits or provisions; impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic; competitive factors; general economic conditions; currency fluctuations; and other risks detailed in MicroStrategy’s registration statements and periodic reports filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The Company undertakes no obligation to update these forward-looking statements for revisions or changes after the date of this release.

The amounts reported as “Market Value” in the above table represent only a mathematical calculation consisting of the price for one bitcoin reported on the Coinbase exchange (MicroStrategy’s principal market) in each scenario defined above multiplied by the number of bitcoins held by MicroStrategy at the end of the applicable period. The Securities and Exchange Commission has previously stated that there has not been a demonstration that (i) bitcoin and bitcoin markets are inherently resistant to manipulation or that the spot price of bitcoin may not be subject to fraud and manipulation; and (ii) adequate surveillance-sharing agreements with bitcoin-related markets are in place, as bitcoin-related markets are either not significant, not regulated, or both. Accordingly, the Market Value amounts reported above may not accurately represent fair market value, and the actual fair market value of MicroStrategy’s bitcoin may be different from such amounts and such deviation may be material. Moreover, (i) the bitcoin market historically has been characterized by significant volatility in price, limited liquidity and trading volumes compared to sovereign currencies markets, relative anonymity, a developing regulatory landscape, potential susceptibility to market abuse and manipulation, and various other risks that are, or may be, inherent in its entirely electronic, virtual form and decentralized network and (ii) MicroStrategy may not be able to sell its bitcoins at the Market Value amounts indicated above, at the market price as reported on the Coinbase exchange (its principal market) on the date of sale, or at all.