Strategy reported a record operating income of $20.91 billion for the third quarter and announced that Chief Financial Officer Andrew Kang will step down on November 5, according to the company's Oct. 29 earnings release. Nearly all of the quarter's profit came from paper gains on its bitcoin holdings — gains that, under the fair-value accounting Strategy applies to its digital assets, flow straight into operating income and make each quarter's results rise and fall with the coin's price.

Leadership transition

Kang is leaving the CFO role after four and a half years and will remain an advisor until December 31. Reza Virasteh, the company's executive vice president of operations, will become CFO on January 1, 2027. In the interim, the finance team is being run by CEO Phong Le, who will lead finances for the bitcoin strategy starting in January and share principal financial officer duties with Virasteh, according to the Oct. 29 earnings release. The staggered handoff leaves the finance function under CEO oversight for the final two months of the year — an interim stretch that spans STRC's Nov. 1 switch to daily dividend accrual and Kang's Nov. 5 exit.

"Q3 operating income of $21 billion was the largest ever in Strategy's history," Kang said in the release, calling his service as CFO "an honor and privilege."

Record quarter driven by digital assets

Operating income was $3.89 billion a year earlier. Digital assets alone added $20.91 billion in gains this quarter. Net income came to $19.53 billion, or $44.75 per diluted share, compared with $2.79 billion, or $8.42, in the third quarter of 2025. Preferred dividends of $419.6 million reduced the portion attributable to common shareholders to $19.12 billion.

Software revenue declined 3% to $125.4 million from $128.7 million a year earlier, with gross margin at 71%.

The strong quarter followed bitcoin-led losses of $12.54 billion in the first quarter and $8.22 billion in the second, leaving the first nine months of the year $1.23 billion in the red, or $6.27 per diluted share. With three quarters of the year on the books, the fourth quarter will determine whether Strategy closes 2026 with a full-year profit.

Strategy's own bitcoin yardsticks also point backward. Year to date, it posted a BTC Yield of -3.7%, a BTC Gain of -24,947 bitcoin and a BTC $ Gain of -$2.03 billion, meaning each share now carries less bitcoin than in January.

Holdings stood at 848,517 bitcoin on October 25, a leap of 26% this year, at a cost basis of $64.02 billion, or about $75,446 per coin — a hoard that makes Strategy the largest corporate holder of bitcoin. The market value of the stash was $68.90 billion on October 23, when the bitcoin price was $81,200. The company said bitcoin was up 43% and MSTR was up 76% in the quarter.

Sales of stock under its at-the-market program raised $5.41 billion net in the quarter, and the $21.23 billion raised in 2026 makes Strategy the fourth-largest U.S. equity issuer this year.

"We're at the beginning of the next bitcoin bull market," Executive Chairman Michael Saylor said in the release. He cited banks getting on board with bitcoin and a price 21% above its 200-week moving average.

MSTR was off about 3.5% in after-hours trading on Oct. 29, and bitcoin dropped below $77,000 the same day. The declines came despite the record quarter, a reflection of how directly the company's reported results — and its stock — are now tied to bitcoin's price.

Shareholders back daily preferred dividends

Strategy has sold about $431.8 million of bitcoin this year to help pay for preferred dividends and STRC buybacks. Cryptopolitan reported that the company sold 1,638 bitcoin in the week to August 2 for about $104.7 million.

Strategy's common stockholders voted on October 28 to permit STRC, STRF, STRK and STRD dividends to accumulate on a calendar-day basis. The measure received 99.3% of the votes cast, according to Strategy's October 28 filing. The change takes effect for STRC on November 1, while STRF, STRK and STRD follow on January 1, 2027 — the same day Virasteh takes office as CFO.

STRC buybacks this year totaled approximately $2.04 billion at an average price of $97.39 per share, about 2.6% below the instrument's stated amount of $100. Strategy maintained the STRC dividend rate at 12.00%.

USD Assets stand at $5.07 billion, which the company says would cover roughly 3.4 years of preferred dividends and interest. The USD Reserve alone is $4.83 billion, up from $3.225 billion on July 20.