MetaPlanet's 20% Option Pool Controversy, Strive CEO Responds

A controversy has arisen regarding MetaPlanet's executive stock option pool, which reportedly amounts to 20% of the company's shares. CEO David Bailey argued that distributing 20% over five years is a low figure. MetaPlanet introduced its 10th stock acquisition rights in December 2022, with the option pool increasing from approximately 46 million shares to about 319 million shares. The board fixed the potential number of shares at 319.46 million on August 18 and decided to apply a lock-up on exercised shares until August 2031. Bailey emphasized that MetaPlanet has been the best-performing stock globally for two years, claiming that its Bitcoin holdings have increased more than 40 times on a per-share basis. In contrast, Strive CEO Matt Cole rebutted that the two companies cannot be compared, explaining that Strive's stock compensation does not automatically expand with new stock issuance. MetaPlanet's stock closed at 244 yen on the 8th, having fallen approximately 17% over two trading days. MSCI is considering excluding non-operating companies from its stock index, which includes both MetaPlanet and Strive.