Microsoft Stock Dips After Redmond’s Shareholders Snub Bitcoin Investment Proposal: Retail Mixed

Microsoft Corp. ($MSFT) shares traded moderately lower by mid-session on Tuesday after the software giant’s shareholders voted no to adopting Bitcoin ($BTC.X) as a treasury reserve.

A shareholder proposal submitted by the National Center for Public Policy Research (NCPPR) sought the company to consider investing in Bitcoin, a proxy statement filed with the SEC in late-October showed.

NCPPR made its case by asking Microsoft to follow the middle-of-the-road approach by not holding too much of the apex crypto while at the same time not shunning it altogether. It noted that MicroStrategy, Inc. ($MSTR), a technology company like Microsoft, outperformed the latter by 313% in stock performance by holding Bitcoin on its balance sheet.

The agency noted that much of Microsoft's $484 billion in assets on its balance sheet as of March 31, 2024, were invested in U.S. government securities and corporate bonds and that these barely outpaced inflation. 

Microsoft was against the proposal, citing volatility in crypto prices. “Microsoft has strong and appropriate processes in place to manage and diversify its corporate treasury for the long-term benefit of shareholders and this requested public assessment is unwarranted,” it said.

Incidentally, MicroStrategy's Michael Saylor had talked up the case of Bitcoin investment by Microsoft while he appeared on CNBC earlier this month.

CoinTelegraph reported that at Microsoft’s annual shareholder meeting held virtually on Tuesday, a pre-recorded video submitted by NCPPR arguing its case was played. In the video, the conservative think tank said Redmond should use 1%-5% of its profits to purchase Bitcoin.

Retail reaction to the move was mixed. On Stocktwits, one user commented that the ‘no vote’ was a wrong move, while another expressed relief.

On Stocktwits, retail sentiment toward Microsoft stayed ‘bullish’ (65/100), with message volume spiking to an ‘extremely high’ level. 

MSFT sentiment and message volume December 10, 2024, as of 2:41 pm ET | Source: Stocktwits

Following the shareholder snub for Bitcoin investment, Microsoft stock traded down 0.77% at $442.58 Microsoft shares have gained about 20% for the year.

Bitcoin was down 1.28% at $95,927.76.

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