Michael Saylor Explains Strategy Behind Two Key Bitcoin Metrics: BPS Is a Growth Story, CEBE BPS Is Real Risk Exposure

On June 14, Michael Saylor published a post clarifying two key per-share Bitcoin metrics tied to MicroStrategy’s Bitcoin holdings, breaking down their differences in a way tailored for investors. BPS, short for Bitcoin Per Share, measures the amount of Bitcoin linked to common shares before accounting for senior debt—an optimistic metric that shows how quickly per-share equity accumulates when the company acquires Bitcoin via debt or equity issuances. BTC Yield, for its part, tracks the effectiveness of this strategy by relying on BPS as its core basis. CEBE BPS, by contrast, is the actual per-share Bitcoin exposure accessible to common shareholders after deducting all senior obligations (including term debt, convertible bonds, preferred stock, and so on)—a more conservative risk indicator. Saylor noted that the relative importance of these two metrics depends on MicroStrategy’s liability maturity schedule: Shorter-dated debt makes CEBE BPS far more critical, as it directly reflects the remaining equity common shareholders would hold if liabilities were settled today. For longer-dated liabilities, however, BPS becomes more relevant, since long-term Bitcoin price appreciation is expected to cover accrued interest and dividend obligations. He emphasized that simply dividing total Bitcoin holdings by total outstanding shares is not a reliable measure of value—proper analysis requires a deep dive into the company’s capital structure.