The ex-head of the largest bitcoin owner commented on his dismissal

The news that Michael Saylor is stepping down as CEO of MicroStrategy and will be replaced by the company’s CFO and president, Phong Le, has shaken up the cryptocurrency sector.

To explain this decision, Saylor spoke to the media. In his interview, he said that the plan to make Fong Le the CEO was hatched before the company grew to 2,200 employees:«We worked on a handover plan with him (Phong Le) for about four years, making him COO first and then president.»

As Saylor emphasized, when MicroStrategy «entered the bitcoin strategy» and began to generate billions of dollars in revenue, the company decided to hire a full-time CFO. It was Andrew Kahn, who was appointed in May 2022.

Saylor said: «It was the catalyst that allowed the company to elevate Fong to the position of president and CEO, and I wanted to take on the role of executive chairman — so it’s a decision I’ve been thinking about for years.»

In his role as executive chairman, Saylor intends to remain involved in the business: «A lot of people don’t realize that I’m the controlling shareholder of MicroStrategy, so I’m the chairman of the board. I will remain the chairman of the Investment Committee, which is to lead our bitcoin acquisition strategy.»

Regarding Phong Le, Saylor emphasized that he «will be running the day-to-day business with the support of Andrew, our new CF O.» The former MicroStrategy CEO explained that he considers Phong Le «a really great leader» and expressed his belief that «he will be even better as president and CEO.»

As a reminder, Michael Saylor recently assessed the future of Ethereum — the former MicroStrategy CEO is convinced that the cryptocurrency will face significant challenges in the coming years.