Strategy's European Strategy: What's Behind Michael Saylor's Failure to Hold the 10% Dividend Offer

Strategy, led by Michael Saylor, made an aggressive move to enter the European market in late 2025. The company introduced a preferred share called Stream (STRE) with a nominal value of EUR 100 ($115) per share, paying an annual 10% dividend. Despite the high yield and attractive terms, this product did not garner the expected interest in Europe. So, what went wrong?

The Beginning of Expansion into Europe

Strategy aimed to market STRE, its first preferred share product outside the US, across the European Economic Area. This product is parallel to the company’s high-yield money market-style preferred share, Stretch (STRC). The initial goals were ambitious: raise $715 million in funds.

However, due to market conditions and lack of demand, the target was not fully achieved. Strategy priced the instrument at EUR 80 per share; this represented a 20% discount below its nominal value. After the product was launched, it was quickly removed from the company’s control panel, and public communication was minimal.

Structural Issues Hindering STRE Adoption

The failure of STRE is entirely due to structural reasons. Khing Oei, founder and CEO of Treasury, explained that although Europe is a sufficiently large market, the product faces various challenges.

The first issue concerns accessibility. STRE is listed on Luxembourg’s Euro MTF market platform; however, this platform does not provide user-friendly distribution. Interactive Brokers, one of the largest global brokerage platforms, does not offer STRE. Many other retail investor platforms also do not support trading this instrument. As a result, potential investors face significant difficulties accessing the product.

The second obstacle is the lack of transparency in price discovery. On major data provider platforms like TradingView, STRE’s visibility is quite limited. Investors cannot find reliable information about liquidity and realistic performance. Current data shows striking figures, such as a suspicious market cap of $39 billion and only 1,300 trading volume on TradingView. This indicates how little genuine interest there is in the product.

Expert Recommendations for Solutions

Khing Oei offers concrete suggestions to overcome STRE’s issues. These include relisting on alternative platforms. The Netherlands’ financial and trading infrastructure could provide a stronger distribution network, deeper market making, narrower bid-ask spreads, and a more suitable environment for retail access. Under these conditions, marketing and adoption of the product could become more scalable.

Michael Saylor’s European Vision: An Uncertain Future

Strategy’s president, Michael Saylor, has previously underestimated expansion into markets like Japan and granted a competitive advantage to Metaplanet. The question now is: will Saylor see the European market as a growth opportunity and aim to double down, or will Strategy continue to focus primarily on the US market with its four preferred share products?

The STRE example demonstrates that even high-yield products can fail without proper distribution and market structure. Michael Saylor and his team may need to rethink and redesign their European strategy based on these lessons.