GameStop’s Bitcoin Bet Fails to Wow Traders. Can It Copy MSTR?GameStop NYSE:GME wants to jam Bitcoin BITSTAMP:BTCUSD into its treasury. But isn’t that a risky move that threatens to derail the video-game retailer’s finances? With $1.3 billion on the line, GameStop’s pivot to Bitcoin in efforts to revive its flagging share price may make things even worse. Let’s talk about that.
Desperate times call for desperate measures. After a couple months of speculation, traders’ suspicions turned out correct — GameStop is indeed adding Bitcoin on its balance sheet .
The company confirmed the plan in its quarterly earnings update released last week. That was all good — shares jumped 8% on the news and closed the cash session higher by 12%.
But these solid gains were not only wiped out — traders doubled down on the selling pressure when the shares crashed 23% a day later because GameStop unveiled a scary figure.
To make Bitcoin a treasury reserve asset, GameStop said it is seeking to sell $1.3 billion of convertible bonds , which will be used “for general corporate purposes, including the acquisition of Bitcoin in a manner consistent with GameStop’s Investment Policy.”
What do these convertible bonds do? They’re essentially papers that certify you’ve given the company a loan. Usually, they come bearing some nice guaranteed yield, but in this case, the yield is exactly 0.00%.
Another string attached to GameStop's bonds is that they are due in 2030 and you can choose to convert them into shares, each with a price tag of $28.46, or you can take them out in cash. That’s one reason why the stock tanked last week — not too favorable conditions.
Another one, and perhaps a bigger worry for investors, is that GameStop’s net income will no longer be as secure as it’s been until now. More precisely, GameStop generates around $220 million in interest each year thanks to its holding of Treasury bills.
With Bitcoin getting in the mix of factors contributing to the bottom-line figure, things may spin out of ordinary. True, Bitcoin may go up in price and lift GameStop’s net income but it could also decide to nosedive for no reason and eat into GameStop’s profits.
Judging by the votes of the traders last week (if the stock market is a voting machine in the short term), they seem to believe in the latter. At least for now. But that's not a concern to the OG meme stock . Where it hopes Bitcoin will make a difference is the long run. Just look at MicroStrategy MSTR .
Strategy, formerly known as MicroStrategy , is the world’s largest corporate Bitcoin holder. Even more, it’s a Bitcoin hoarder, sitting on more than 506,000 Bitcoin, according to BTC-tracking platform Bitcoin Treasuries .
Strategy has been issuing debt to buy Bitcoin since 2020 and that’s the exact same thing that GameStop is doing. But there’s a key difference. Strategy has largely strapped its share price to the performance of Bitcoin. So much so that the market has been feverishly buying the stock as a way to get exposure to Bitcoin (on steroids). For GameStop, it’s too late for that.
Shares of Strategy are trading at less than 2x the value of its Bitcoin holdings.
GameStop, in contrast, has appealed to investors for its stack of cash (besides the speculative bonanza) with $4.8 billion in dry powder ready to be deployed. The stock is trading at more than 2x its cash holdings and the cash-to-Bitcoin conversion is likely to dent that performance and trigger some outflows. And that’s how the company puts its premium at risk.
So is it safe to say that GameStop is looking to spark a share-price rally by following MicroStrategy’s lead? Maybe. But the exposure to Bitcoin also comes at a perilous time for the cryptocurrency industry. Bitcoin is down 10% on the year and more than 25% from its all-time high of $109,000 to hover around $84,000 a pop.
Can the Bitcoin philosophy reel GameStop out of the slump? Or will it drag the bottom line and chip away at whatever’s left of the bruised valuation under $10 billion? You be the judge — share your thoughts in the comment section!
