Michael Saylor Net Worth $4.9 Billion
Category:
Richest Business › Richest Billionaires
Net Worth: $4.9 Billion
Birthdate: February 4, 1965 (59 years old)
Birthplace: Lincoln, Nebraska
Gender: Male
Profession: Businessperson
What is Michael Saylor’s Net Worth?
Michael Saylor is an American entrepreneur and businessman with a net worth of $4.9 billion. He is best known as the co-founder and former CEO of the technology services company MicroStrategy, which he led for 33 years. Saylor stepped down as CEO in August 2022 following a significant loss in Bitcoin investments. At the time of his departure, he owned an estimated 23% of MicroStrategy’s public shares, worth around $600 million pre-tax. By April 2024, with the resurgence of Bitcoin, his stake was once again valued at several billion dollars. Saylor is also the founder and sole trustee of Saylor Academy, a non-profit online education provider.
Early Life and Education
Michael Saylor was born on February 4, 1965, in Lincoln, Nebraska, to a US Air Force chief master sergeant. His early years were spent moving between various Air Force bases around the world. At age 11, his family settled in Fairborn, Ohio, near Wright-Patterson Air Force Base. Saylor attended the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) on an Air Force ROTC scholarship, where he met future business colleague Sanju K. Bansal through the Theta Delta Chi fraternity. Saylor graduated from MIT in 1987.
Career Beginnings
Initially aspiring to become a pilot, Saylor’s plans were thwarted by a medical condition. Instead, he joined the consulting firm The Federal Group, where he worked on computer simulation modeling. He later moved to DuPont as an internal consultant.
MicroStrategy Founding and Success
In 1989, Saylor co-founded MicroStrategy with his MIT fraternity brother Sanju Bansal and Thomas Spahr. The company initially developed software for data mining but later focused on business intelligence software. MicroStrategy’s first major client was McDonald’s, secured through a $10 million contract in 1992. The company went public in 1998, making Saylor the wealthiest man in the Washington, DC area by early 2000. That year, MicroStrategy also founded Alarm.com.
MicroStrategy Losses and Controversies
In March 2000, during the dot-com bubble burst, MicroStrategy’s stock price plummeted, causing Saylor to lose around $6 billion in a single day. Later that year, the SEC charged Saylor and two other executives with accounting fraud, alleging that MicroStrategy had inaccurately reported its financial results. Saylor settled without admitting wrongdoing, paying $350,000 plus a personal disgorgement of $8.3 million.
In March 2020, Saylor sparked controversy by dismissing COVID-19 safety protocols in a memo to employees. Later that year, he announced that MicroStrategy would invest in Bitcoin as an alternative to holding cash, subsequently purchasing hundreds of millions of dollars worth of Bitcoin. By October 2020, Saylor personally held 17,732 Bitcoins, purchased at an average price of $9,882 each. MicroStrategy’s Bitcoin holdings reached 121,044 Bitcoins by the following year.
Resignation as CEO
Following a $917 million loss in Bitcoin investments in August 2022, Saylor resigned as CEO of MicroStrategy after 33 years. He transitioned to the role of executive chairman, with the company’s president Phong Le taking over as CEO.
Other Projects
In 1999, Saylor founded the non-profit Saylor Academy, which offers free online college-level courses. He is the sole trustee of the organization. Saylor also authored the non-fiction book “The Mobile Wave: How Mobile Intelligence Will Change Everything,” published in 2012, which became a New York Times Best Seller.
Real Estate
Saylor previously resided in Villa Vecchia, an 18,000-square-foot waterfront mansion in Miami Beach, Florida, built by L.M. Barrett in 1928. The property features 13 bedrooms, 12 bathrooms, a grand ballroom, a library, a formal dining room, a gourmet kitchen, a pool pavilion, a waterfront gazebo, and a dock for a 100-foot yacht. Saylor also owns a home in McLean, Virginia.
