Why hasn't Michael Saylor's European high-dividend product gained traction in the market?

Michael Saylor’s company, MicroStrategy (MSTR), launched the Stream (STRE) in November to target the European market. It appeared to be an attractive product: a nominal value of 100 euros (about $115) per share, a 10% annual dividend, and a preferred stock structure with priority over common shares. However, the reality since its launch has been different from expectations.

The process of raising the final capital of $715 million through STRE indicated early difficulties. The company set the share price at 80 euros, a 20% discount from the initial target of 100 euros, citing market conditions and lack of demand. This meant that a financial product that looked good in theory was shunned by actual investors.

High Expectations and the Reality Gap of STRE

STRE was designed as the European version of the existing high-yield preferred stock, Stretch (STRC). MicroStrategy anticipated significant demand across the European Economic Area (EEA). However, since its launch, STRE has not garnered as much interest as expected. Moreover, the company had almost no public communication about this product, and the information was later removed from the company dashboard.

Signs that something was wrong were clear, but there was a lack of detailed market analysis to identify the exact issues. It was evident that things were not proceeding as Michael Saylor’s company had planned, but understanding the structural causes required a closer look at the market conditions.

Accessibility and Lack of Market Information as Major Barriers

King Oi, founder and CEO of Treasury, a Bitcoin financial management firm based in the Netherlands, pointed out two structural issues behind STRE’s failure.

First, serious lack of accessibility. STRE is only listed on Luxembourg’s Euro MTF (Multilateral Trading Facility), with extremely limited user-friendly distribution channels. Even Interactive Brokers, one of the largest online brokerage platforms, did not include STRE for trading. Additionally, many retail-focused trading platforms do not support trading in this product. While the potential market in Europe is undoubtedly large, the fundamental problem was that actual investors could not easily access it.

Second, lack of transparency in market data. Major chart services like TradingView do not provide sufficient historical price information or reliable market data for STRE. Although the market cap displayed on TradingView is $39 billion, the actual trading volume is only about 1,300 transactions per day. This information gap makes it difficult for investors to accurately assess liquidity and how easy it is to execute trades. Ultimately, the lack of trustworthy trading data led to lower adoption rates.

Expert-Recommended Solutions and Future Outlook

King Oi suggests that STRE should consider relisting on alternative exchanges to overcome current issues. For example, the Dutch financial infrastructure could offer a stronger distribution network, deeper market making, narrower bid-ask spreads, and broader retail access channels. Meeting these conditions could significantly increase the actual adoption of the financial product.

However, whether Michael Saylor’s company will accept this proposal remains uncertain. In the past, Saylor intentionally scaled back preferred stock expansion in markets like Japan. Whether they will view Europe as a long-term growth opportunity and invest actively, or return primarily to a US-focused strategy, depends on Saylor’s next decision. Notably, in the US market, MicroStrategy already successfully operates four different perpetual preferred stock products, which contrasts with the European situation.