Michael J. Saylor

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Michael J. Saylor is Chairman of the Board of Directors, Chief Executive Officer, and President of MicroStrategy, Incorporated, a publicly-traded business intelligence software company.

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[edit] Early Years

Michael Saylor was born February 4, 1965, in Lincoln, Nebraska. He graduated in 1983 as valedictorian at Fairborn High School in Fairborn, Ohio. Fairborn is a working-class town near Wright-Patterson Air Force Base outside Dayton.

Mr. Saylor attended the Massachusetts Institute of Technology on an Air Force ROTC scholarship. Saylor graduated with honors from MIT in 1987 with two bachelor’s degrees – the first was in Humanities, with a concentration in Science, Technology, and Society, and the second was in Aeronautics and Astronautics, with a concentration in Space Vehicles. While at MIT, he was a member of the Theta Delta Chi fraternity. As an Air Force commissioned officer, he was ultimately promoted to the rank of Captain.

Following graduation from MIT, Mr. Saylor was employed by Federal Group, a boutique management consulting firm led by Dr. Nat Mass, who was also a lecturer at MIT’s Sloan School of Management. He then worked as a venture manager at Du Pont de Nemours and Company from 1988 to 1989. [1] In late 1989, Michael Saylor, Sanju Bansal, and Thomas Spahr founded MicroStrategy Incorporated.

[edit] MicroStrategy

Mr. Saylor has served as MicroStrategy’s Chief Executive Officer and Chairman of the Board of Directors since the inception of the company. MicroStrategy initially focused on the creation of computer-based business simulations, and has evolved into providing software that helps business people better understand their large volume of business data.

Today, MicroStrategy is a business intelligence (BI), Enterprise Reporting, and OLAP (on-line analytical processing) software vendor. MicroStrategy's software allows reporting and analysis of data stored in a relational database, multidimensional database, or flat data file.

As a result of the consolidation in the BI industry, MicroStrategy remains one of the few independent BI software providers.[2] When IBM announced its plans to acquire Cognos and SAP announced plans to purchase Business Objects, MicroStrategy announced its plans to aggressively recruit employees and customers from its competitors.[3]

In a keynote speech at MicroStrategy's 11th annual user conference in January 2008, Mr. Saylor addressed the consolidation in the BI industry.[4] Mr. Saylor commented on the acquisitions of several of MicroStrategy's BI competitors by large IT vendors, and noted that these BI providers will now have to weigh the considerations and priorities of a parent company, while MicroStrategy retains the flexibility to support a broad variety of third-party products.

MicroStrategy has several thousand customers including Lowes,[5] McDonalds,[6] U.S. Army,[7] Universal Studios Hollywood,[8] KB Toys, and Priceline.com.[9] Many MicroStrategy customers have invested in the development of large scale data warehouses or data marts as part of their business intelligence initiatives.

In the BI Survey 7, an independent survey of the business intelligence market released in 2008, MicroStrategy received the top product loyalty score of all BI vendors surveyed. [10] This is the fourth consecutive year that MicroStrategy has been rated number one in customer loyalty. Also in 2008, MicroStrategy was placed in the Leader quadrant of Gartner's Magic Quadrant for Business Intelligence Platforms report. [11]

Today, MicroStrategy is a worldwide provider of business intelligence software, with 2007 revenue of $351 million, direct operations in 41 cities in 23 countries, and more than 1,500 employees. Under Mr. Saylor's leadership, MicroStrategy has been noted for producing many first-time entrepreneurs and start-up companies.[12]

Mr. Saylor is the controlling shareholder of MicroStrategy. According to MicroStrategy’s 2007 Proxy Statement, Mr. Saylor has 65.9% of the total aggregate voting power in the company, and beneficially owns 317,800 shares of class A common stock and 2,429,582 shares of class B common stock[13].


MicroStrategy was among the companies to have its stock value skyrocket during the dot-com boom. It was a prominent advertiser during the Super Bowl XXXIV in 2000. An accounting scandal in 2000 caused the stock to drop 61% on March 20, 2000 alone, losing over 95% of its value in a few weeks. Adjusted for stock splits, the company traded for an all-time high of $333 on March 10, 2000, and an all-time low of $4.20 on July 3, 2002 during the stock market downturn of 2002[14]. At that time Michael Saylor was labeled as a person who had lost more money in a single day than anyone other than Bill Gates when his personal net worth plummeted $6 billion on March 20, 2000[15].

For his part in the MicroStrategy accounting scandal of 2000, Mr. Saylor was fined $350,000 by the SEC. This was the largest such fine levied to an individual by the SEC up to that time. Mr. Saylor also agreed in court to repay $8.3M to MicroStrategy shareholders.

[edit] Patents and Inventions

Mr. Saylor has been credited as an inventor or co-inventor on 20 patents from the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office, in the areas of business intelligence, wireless security, and speech automation.

  • 12/7/1999, Patent No. 6,263,051 [16].- System and method for voice service bureau
  • 12/7/1999, Patent No. 6,788,768 [17].- System and method for real-time, personalized, dynamic, interactive voice services for book-related information
  • 12/7/1999, Patent No. 6,873,693[18].- System and method for real-time, personalized, dynamic, interactive voice services for entertainment-related information
  • 12/7/1999, Patent No. 6,658,093[19].- System and method for real-time, personalized, dynamic, interactive voice services for travel availability information
  • 12/7/1999, Patent No. 6,768,788[20].- System and method for real-time, personalized, dynamic, interactive voice services for property-related information
  • 12/7/1999, Patent No. 6,836,537[21].- System and method for real-time, personalized, dynamic, interactive voice services for information related to existing travel schedule
  • 01/11/2000, Patent No. 6,501,832[22].- Voice code registration system and method for registering voice codes for voice pages in a voice network access provider system
  • 01/11/2000, Patent No. 6,888,929[23].- Revenue generation method for use with voice network access provider system and method
  • 01/11/2000, Patent No. 6,792,086[24].- Voice network access provider system and method
  • 01/11/2000, Patent No. 6,707,889[25].- Multiple voice network access provider system and method
  • 04/24/2001, Patent No. 6,661,340[26].- System and method for connecting security systems to a wireless device
  • 04/24/2001, Patent No. 6,400,265[27].- System and method for monitoring security systems by using video images
  • 06/20/2001, Patent No. 6,859,798[28].- Intelligence server system
  • 09/14/2001, Patent No. 6,895,084[29].- System and method for generating voice pages with included audio files for use in a voice page delivery system
  • 02/05/2002, Patent No. 7,016,480[30].- System and method for granting permission to receive interactive voice broadcast of a voice service
  • 02/05/2002, Patent No. 7,127,403[31].- System and method for personalizing an interactive voice broadcast of a voice service based on particulars of a request
  • 02/05/2002, Patent No. 7,039,165[32].- System and method for personalizing an interactive voice broadcast of a voice service based on automatic number identification
  • 01/10/2003, Patent No. 7,330,847[33].- System and method for management of an automatic OLAP report broadcast system
  • 10/14/2003, Patent No. 6,965,313[34].- System and method for connecting security systems to a wireless device
  • 07/27/2005, Patent No. 7,113,090[35].- System and method for connecting security systems to a wireless device

[edit] Personal Life

Mr. Saylor is active in the Washington D.C. community. He holds season tickets to the Washington Nationals, the Washington Capitals, and the Washington Wizards sporting events, and supports area cultural programs and museums, including the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts, Wolf Trap National Park for the Performing Arts, the Washington Ballet, the National Gallery of Art, the National Building Museum, and the Washington Humane Society. At the recent Fashion for Paws event at the Embassy of Italy in Washington, DC (Apr 12, 2008) he was the event chairman and he matched what the models raised for the fundraiser which was about $255,000. In addition, Mr. Saylor has established the Saylor Foundation and has contributed to a broad range of organizations, including Wish Friends, Georgetown University Medical Center's Lombardi Comprehensive Cancer Center, Values First, YouthAids,Best Buddies International[36], Courage Cup, and Fight for Children.

In March 2000, during the hubris of the dot com bubble, Mr. Saylor stated publicly his intention to donate $100 million towards the founding of a free online university. [37]. However, while no formal statement was ever issued regarding cancellation of the project, the donation didn't materialize following the MicroStrategy stock fall.[38].

[edit] References

  1. ^ Michael J. Saylor Chairman of the Board, President and Chief Executive Officer. Retrieved on December 4, 2007.
  2. ^ Customers Trust MicroStrategy's Independence. Retrieved on February 19, 2008.
  3. ^ MicroStrategy Eyes Rivals’ Employees and Customers. Retrieved on February 19, 2008.
  4. ^ MicroStrategy charts its own course amid BI consolidation. Retrieved on February 19, 2008.
  5. ^ Lowe's builds up infrastructure to support 'lifeblood' BI. Retrieved on March 13, 2008.
  6. ^ McDonald's Credits Business Intelligence for Recent Growth. Retrieved on February 25, 2008.
  7. ^ MicroStrategy strikes RFID deal with US Army. Retrieved on February 25, 2008.
  8. ^ BI and CPM a blockbuster for Universal Studios Hollywood. Retrieved on February 25, 2008.
  9. ^ McLean's MicroStrategy Nets Three More Clients. Retrieved on February 25, 2008.
  10. ^ 'The BI Survey 7' Details Purchase Practices, Ranks Loyalty by Brand. Retrieved on February 25, 2008.
  11. ^ Magic Quadrant for Business Intelligence Platforms, 2008. Retrieved on March 13, 2008.
  12. ^ Saylor's Soldiers. Retrieved on February 15, 2008.
  13. ^ 2007 MicroStrategy Proxy Statement. Retrieved on March 28, 2008.
  14. ^ The rise, fall and recovery of MicroStrategy. Retrieved on March 8, 2006.
  15. ^ Michael Saylor. Retrieved on April 8, 2006.
  16. ^ U.S. Patent and Trademark Office. Retrieved on March 28, 2008.
  17. ^ U.S. Patent and Trademark Office. Retrieved on March 28, 2008.
  18. ^ U.S. Patent and Trademark Office. Retrieved on March 28, 2008.
  19. ^ U.S. Patent and Trademark Office. Retrieved on March 28, 2008.
  20. ^ U.S. Patent and Trademark Office. Retrieved on March 28, 2008.
  21. ^ U.S. Patent and Trademark Office. Retrieved on March 28, 2008.
  22. ^ U.S. Patent and Trademark Office. Retrieved on March 28, 2008.
  23. ^ U.S. Patent and Trademark Office. Retrieved on March 28, 2008.
  24. ^ U.S. Patent and Trademark Office. Retrieved on March 28, 2008.
  25. ^ U.S. Patent and Trademark Office. Retrieved on March 28, 2008.
  26. ^ U.S. Patent and Trademark Office. Retrieved on March 28, 2008.
  27. ^ U.S. Patent and Trademark Office. Retrieved on March 28, 2008.
  28. ^ U.S. Patent and Trademark Office. Retrieved on March 28, 2008.
  29. ^ U.S. Patent and Trademark Office. Retrieved on March 28, 2008.
  30. ^ U.S. Patent and Trademark Office. Retrieved on March 28, 2008.
  31. ^ U.S. Patent and Trademark Office. Retrieved on March 28, 2008.
  32. ^ U.S. Patent and Trademark Office. Retrieved on March 28, 2008.
  33. ^ U.S. Patent and Trademark Office. Retrieved on March 28, 2008.
  34. ^ U.S. Patent and Trademark Office. Retrieved on March 28, 2008.
  35. ^ U.S. Patent and Trademark Office. Retrieved on March 28, 2008.
  36. ^ Best Buddies International Foundation Sponsors. Retrieved on December, 4, 2007.
  37. ^ Billionaire pledges $100 million for free Internet university. Retrieved on November 30, 2007.
  38. ^ Donations Dried Up with Tech Stocks. Retrieved on November 30, 2007.

[edit] External links