Strive reports US$285.4M cash as preferred financing expands
Preferred equity sits outside reported liabilities, while unrealized bitcoin gains drove the third-quarter profit.
Julian Okafor
A bitcoin treasury valued at US$2.34 billion stood alongside US$285.4 million in cash and US$37.5 million in liabilities at the end of September. Strive, Inc. NASDAQASST NASDAQSATA, the Dallas-based bitcoin treasury and asset-management company, disclosed those Sept. 30 balances in its Nov. 6 quarterly results.
The liability figure leaves out US$1.21 billion of preferred stock carried separately as mezzanine equity at Sept. 30. That stock had a US$1.3 billion liquidation preference, giving common shareholders a financing exposure that the liability total alone does not describe.
Third-quarter net income reached US$509 million, but the accounts included a larger US$533.7 million unrealized gain on digital assets. Strive acquired 8,136 bitcoin during the quarter, while preferred dividends reduced the profit attributable to common shareholders.
Strive common shares closed at US$20.59 on Nasdaq on Nov. 5 at 4 p.m. EST, according to NASDAQASST. That close preceded the Nov. 6 results and supplies no evidence of the market's response to them.
Preferred Capital Sits Outside Reported Liabilities
Cash increased from US$67.5 million at Dec. 31 to US$285.4 million at Sept. 30. Total liabilities rose from US$14.3 million over the same period, while the preferred equity carrying value increased from US$148.8 million.
The Sept. 30 current-liability total was US$34.3 million. It included US$14 million in dividends payable, as well as compensation, accounts payable and other liabilities; operating lease liabilities accounted for the remaining non-current balance.
Strive reported US$34.2 million in preferred dividends for the third quarter. Those dividends reduced net income attributable to common shareholders to US$474.8 million, showing a financing cost alongside the bitcoin valuation gains.
The capital structure expanded again after Sept. 30. Strive completed an offering of seven million SATS preferred shares on Oct. 20, generating approximately US$609 million after underwriting discounts and commissions.
SATS is the company's 15 per cent Series A Perpetual preferred stock. Its October offering falls outside the September balance sheet, so the quarter-end preferred-equity figure does not capture that subsequent financing.
By Oct. 30, reported cash had reached US$490.4 million. That later snapshot should remain separate from the Sept. 30 accounts: the release also reports substantial subsequent bitcoin acquisitions, without making the cash balance itself a measure of operating earnings.
Bitcoin Gains Exceed Quarterly Business Revenue
Strive acquired 20,373 bitcoin during the nine months ended Sept. 30. It reported another 15,124 acquired between Oct. 1 and Oct. 30, extending treasury accumulation beyond the reporting period.
The US$2.34 billion digital-asset balance is a Sept. 30 fair-value measurement. The 8,136 bitcoin acquired during the quarter is a purchase count, while the October preferred offering represents securities-financing proceeds; these figures describe different transactions and measures.
Third-quarter business revenue totalled US$2.7 million. Investment advisory fees contributed US$1.6 million, while medical-device revenue contributed US$1.1 million, according to the unaudited statements accompanying the Nov. 6 release.
Operating expenses reached US$38.7 million for the quarter. That included a US$14.7 million impairment of a medical-device research and development intangible asset, helping explain why business revenue alone does not account for the reported profit.
Employee compensation and benefits added US$15.6 million of third-quarter expenses, with general and administrative costs of US$6.7 million. The digital-asset gain was unrealized, so the earnings figure does not establish that Strive received equivalent cash from bitcoin sales.
The 2025 comparison also needs care. Strive's statement splits that year's September quarter into predecessor and successor periods around Sept. 12, rather than presenting a single directly comparable prior-year column.
October Financing Enters The Next Reporting Period
Strive's description of its business model says preferred financing aims to capture the spread between its financing cost and bitcoin's potential long-term return. The third-quarter statements show both the valuation gain and preferred dividends, without establishing that future bitcoin returns will cover financing costs.
"With the recent issuance of SATS, we believe Strive has never been in a better position to generate long-term returns in excess of Bitcoin for our common equity shareholders," chairman and chief executive Matthew Cole said in the Nov. 6 release.
The financing scrutiny follows Mugglehead's earlier coverage of bitcoin holdings and capital deployment. Strive's own third-quarter accounts place preferred dividends beside the gain from holding bitcoin, making both part of the common shareholder's earnings exposure.
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The next balance-sheet checkpoint is Dec. 31, the fiscal year-end identified in Strive's quarterly filing. That reporting period will encompass the October preferred offering and subsequent treasury purchases.
