Activist investors latest big move: pushing struggling companies to save themselves with crypto
Activist investors have a new obsession: Urging companies to hold (or HODL, as crypto enthusiasts say) Bitcoin on their balance sheets to boost revenue and possibly transform their businesses by betting on the cryptocurrency’s staying power.Last week, Strive Asset Management CEO Matt Cole revealed on X he was pushing GameStop — the beloved meme stock which has struggled to find a sustainable income stream beyond game cartridges — to invest in Bitcoin.Cole believes that, in a decade, every major company in the stock market will follow suit.And he told NYNext he plans to advise dozens of them to buy Bitcoin this year.“Zombie companies that have no viability to exist can prepare for the future by having Bitcoin on their balance sheets.
My message: Buy Bitcoin unless you see opportunities to spend that asset in a way that will outperform Bitcoin,” Cole said.“When companies own cash, they put it in short-term treasuries or spend it on stock buybacks or dividends … but Bitcoin has actually gone up in real purchasing power over the last few years.”Strive was co-founded by Vivek Ramaswamy in 2022 as a way to push back against ESG (environmental, social, governance) priorities.
With ESG and “woke” policies on the retreat at many corporations, Cole believes the next big opportunity for his firm is persuading corporations to stock up on Bitcoin.In his recent letter to GameStop, which holds $5 billion in cash, Cole wrote, “We believe GameStop has an incredible opportunity to transform its financial future by becoming the premier Bitcoin treasury company in the gaming sector.” He hasn’t revealed his exact stake but claims a significant share through multiple ETFs.There’s precedent for his approach.According to Bitcoin Treasuries, which tracks entities holding the digital coin, more than 80 public companies — including Tesla and Reddit — have been accumulating Bitcoin over the last few years to diversify their holding.The most notable example is...