McDonald's won't be lovin' Bitcoin, SEC confirms
This year, the National Center for Public Policy Research (NCPPR) — a D.C.-based group and McDonald's shareholder known for asking companies like Microsoft and Amazon to adopt Bitcoin — asked McDonald's to consider adding Bitcoin to its treasury during its 2025 annual shareholders' meeting, set for next month.
"McDonald's seems to have long ago understood what many other corporations have yet to: that a company's value, especially during inflationary times, is measured not only by how profitable its primary business is, but also by how wisely it invests its assets and protects its profits from debasement," the NCPPR said.
The NCPPR added that companies like MicroStrategy, now known as Strategy, have seen massive growth since adding Bitcoin to their balance sheets, claiming that Strategy's stock has surged 2,360% more than McDonald's across the past 60 months.
However, lawyers for McDonald's reached out to the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) in a letter to confirm that they could exclude the proposal from the annual shareholders' meeting without triggering an enforcement action. McDonald's lawyers asserted that the Bitcoin proposal fell under ordinary business operations, or investment strategies that were best-suited to a decision by the board, not shareholders.
The SEC agreed. 'There appears to be some basis for your view that the company may exclude the proposal," the SEC said in late March. "In our view, the proposal relates to the company's ordinary business operations. Accordingly, we will not recommend enforcement action to the commission if the company omits the proposal.'
Last December, the NCPPR has also pursued a similar initiative asking e-commerce juggernaut Amazon to allocate 5% of its portfolio to Bitcoin. In that case, the group argued, 'Though Bitcoin is currently a volatile asset – as Amazon stock has been at times throughout its history – corporations have a responsibility to maximize shareholder value over the long-term as well as the short-term.'
Overall, the NCPPR's shareholder activism to promote Bitcoin has gained limited traction. Last December, Microsoft's shareholders rejected a similar proposal to invest in Bitcoin from the NCPPR. The Microsoft board cited the cryptocurrency's volatility as a major deterrent, and highlighted the importance of 'stable and predictable investments to ensure liquidity and operational funding."
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Forbes
an hour ago
- Forbes
More Crypto IPOs Are Coming: 3 Initial Public Offerings To Watch For
INDIA - 2024/04/07: In this photo illustration, a Bitcoin Logo seen displayed on a smartphone with ... More the Wall Street - New York Stock Exchange logo in the background. (Photo Illustration by Avishek Das/SOPA Images/LightRocket via Getty Images) Circle, the issuing company of the USDC Stablecoin, went public last week under the ticker 'CRCL'. The company's stock surged over 168% during its first day of trading, blowing investor expectations out of the water. Their wildly successful listing will likely trigger a rush of additional crypto companies to list or accelerate their plans to go public. I've put together a list of the top 3 crypto-related public listings that will likely make headlines in the months to come. Before we get to the list, let's quickly review the numbers of Circle's recent listing to grasp just how impressive the outcome was for its investors. Circle first announced its plans to go public on May 27th, 2025, though the company had filed for an S-1 registration with the SEC back in January 2024, which signalled its intention to go public. The company was initially targeting to raise $624 million by offering 24 million shares as part of its listing transaction. During the road show, the price was estimated at $24-$26 per share. Due to strong demand, the company increased the offering to 32 million shares at $27-$28 per share, upping the amount raised to $896 million. Even at the increased valuation, the company received 25 times more demand for the shares than expected, meaning the deal was 25 times oversubscribed. To put this in context, this implies that there was demand for ~850 million shares vs the 34 million that Circle was offering for sale. Part of the excitement came from the fact that ARK Invest and Blackrock had strong demand to invest. Circle finally penned the deal by selling 34 million shares at $31 per share, raising a total of $1.05 Billion and valuing the company at $8.1 Billion on a fully-diluted basis. During the first day of trading, the company's share price rose by 168%, closing the day at $81.69. This valued the company at ~$20 billion. While the excitement around Circle's IPO is partly rooted in the optimism surrounding U.S. dollar pegged stablecoins, the deal also implies strong investor interest to participate in the future of the digital economy that's being built around Bitcoin and digital assets. You can bet that other companies in the space are observing the deal with optimism and will likely work to accelerate their plans to list this year. Here are the top 3 companies that have announced or reported plans to list in the months ahead: Gemini As reported three days ago, the U.S.-based crypto exchange owned by Tyler and Cameron Winklevoss, filed for an Initial Public Offering (IPO) in the U.S.. In terms of projected valuation, the company has not yet reported a price, but its last priced round back in November 2021 valued the company at $7.1 Billion. The estimated listing date is late 2025 or early 2026. Kraken The San Francisco-based exchange has also been reportedly getting ready for an IPO in early 2026, although no formal registration has been filed. The company's last priced round was all the way back in 2019, when it raised $13.5 Million at a $4 Billion valuation. The company has reportedly been working with banks to complete a debt offering to boost growth ahead of the listing. Bitgo Back in February the U.S. based custodian was reported to be eyeing an IPO 'as early as this year', though no formal registration has been filed yet. Bitgo's last priced round was done in August 2023, valuing the company at $1.75 Billion. These are just three companies-- after Circle's warm welcome, you can bet that there will be more announcing plans to list soon. In a market where Bitcoin Treasury company stocks and Bitcoin ETFs are performing so well, equity from companies that provide the infrastructure for the industry seems like a logical next step.
Business Insider
an hour ago
- Business Insider
Microsoft-Backed OpenAI (MSFT) Has Reached $10B in Annual Recurring Revenue
Microsoft-backed AI company OpenAI has reached $10 billion in annual recurring revenue (ARR) less than three years after launching its popular ChatGPT chatbot. This total includes sales from its consumer products, ChatGPT business services, and its API, but does not include licensing revenue from Microsoft (MSFT) or large one-time deals, according to an OpenAI spokesperson. Interestingly, this amount jumped from about $5.5 billion in ARR last year. However, its rapid growth has come at a cost, as OpenAI lost around $5 billion last year to support its expansion. Confident Investing Starts Here: Nevertheless, OpenAI is aiming for even bigger targets. Indeed, the company is reportedly looking to reach $125 billion in revenue by 2029, according to a person familiar with the plans, which was first reported by The Information. In addition, earlier this year, OpenAI closed a $40 billion funding round that turned out to be the largest private tech deal on record and valued the company at $300 billion. As a result, based on today's revenue, OpenAI is currently valued at about 30 times sales. This highlights the huge expectations that investors have of the company. It is worth noting that OpenAI first launched ChatGPT for consumers in late 2022 and added business products the following year, with adoption growing quickly. By late March, the firm said that it had 500 million weekly active users. Moreover, earlier this month, OpenAI reported that it now has 3 million paying business users, which was an increase from 2 million in February. These strong user numbers are helping drive OpenAI's fast revenue growth as it continues to expand its AI products for both consumers and businesses. Is MSFT Stock a Buy? Although you cannot directly invest in OpenAI, you can buy shares of Microsoft, which has a 49% stake in OpenAI. And according to analysts, Microsoft stock has a Strong Buy consensus rating among 36 Wall Street analysts. That rating is based on 31 Buys and five Holds assigned in the last three months. Furthermore, the average MSFT price target of $514.93 implies 9% upside potential.
Yahoo
4 hours ago
- Yahoo
Why eToro's IPO took four years to list in the US
Why eToro's IPO took four years to list in the US originally appeared on TheStreet. eToro finally made its US debut on May 14, 2025 — four years after first filing for a listing in 2021. In an interview with TheStreet Roundtable, Andrew McCormick detailed why eToro waited so long and what ultimately made the timing right. 'As a company that's all about empowering people and giving them access to capital markets, it's only natural for a company like eToro to hit the capital markets, to be a publicly traded company,' McCormick said. He emphasized the symbolic importance of letting customers 'all around the world become owners of eToro. And we love that idea of going from a consumer to an owner.' McCormick explained that after the initial 2021 filing, 'financial markets didn't cooperate at the time. There's definitely some regulatory pressures and challenges, but lots of work in between to be ready for that moment.' He described the IPO process as 'really complicated — it's a lot of work, comes with a lot of responsibility, a lot of diligence, a lot of meetings with lawyers and bankers.' A combination of an industry-best year in 2024 and an improved regulatory outlook opened a window for eToro to 'kick down the door and make this happen' this spring. 'After 18 years of just building a great company all around the world, it was a true honor and joy to have that happen three weeks ago,' McCormick added. When asked what sets eToro apart, McCormick pointed to low barriers and community insights. 'We are so great at making investing easy and accessible. $10, whether it's crypto, stocks, options, you can get started. So people who have never got into investing, what a great way to start.' Education is also central. 'We've got a whole dedicated resource called the eToro Academy — tons of courses, videos, articles to just help people learn and grow.' On the platform, users can gauge sentiment and validate it. 'If someone says, 'I love Bitcoin,' you can look at the portfolio and see they've actually bought it, here's a performance. That social element really sets it apart.' Looking forward, McCormick stressed there's 'no better time in history to be a retail investor than today,' whether via ETFs, spot trading or options — and eToro aims to welcome millions more into the markets. Why eToro's IPO took four years to list in the US first appeared on TheStreet on Jun 9, 2025 This story was originally reported by TheStreet on Jun 9, 2025, where it first appeared. Error in retrieving data Sign in to access your portfolio Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data
