Metaplanet CEO gives back $220 million in stock rights to ease investor worries
Metaplanet cancels over $220 million in executive stock rights
Metaplanet, a Tokyo-listed company that holds Bitcoin as its main treasury asset, has canceled a large portion of stock rights given to its executives. The move eliminates more than $220 million in value from potential executive payouts.
The company announced the decision on Sept. 11. It says the cancellation is meant to rebuild trust with investors after later capital raises produced smaller gains in Bitcoin per share than earlier fundraising did.
By reducing the number of potential shares that could be issued to management, Metaplanet says its Bitcoin per fully diluted share has increased by about 8.8%. This means each existing shareholder now has a slightly larger claim on the company's Bitcoin holdings without the company having to buy any new Bitcoin.
Key numbers behind the reset
- Metaplanet canceled 131.3 million Series 10 potential shares, which is 41.1% of the total Series 10 pool.
- The remaining unexercised shares were reduced by 55.5%, leaving about 105.4 million.
- The conversion ratio for Series 10 rights was changed from 696 shares per right down to 410 shares per right.
- Metaplanet still holds approximately 43,000 BTC, according to CEO Simon Gerovich.
- VanEck's Matthew Sigel noted the change means the CEO forfeits roughly $123 million in controversial Series 10 compensation.
Why Metaplanet changed its compensation plan
The reset addresses a problem that arose as Metaplanet raised money to buy more Bitcoin. Early capital raises generated high returns in Bitcoin per share, but later offerings produced much lower returns.
Metaplanet's BTC Yield, a measure of how much Bitcoin the company adds relative to its share count, dropped sharply over time. It reached 129.4% in the second quarter of 2025 but fell to 33% the next quarter, then to 11.9%, and finally to just 2.8% in the first quarter of 2026.
CEO Simon Gerovich said the September 2025 international offering marked the point where raising capital became "less accretive," meaning it added less value for each existing shareholder. He stated that the original Series 10 compensation structure began giving holders too much value relative to what existing shareholders were getting.
In August, the board had already tried to address the issue by stopping an automatic adjustment mechanism that would have expanded the executive share pool as the company issued more stock. At that time, they fixed the pool at 319.5 million potential shares. However, investor criticism continued, leading to this deeper reset.
Future executive pay remains undefined
While the company has canceled a significant portion of executive stock rights, it has not yet created a new compensation plan for the future. The board abandoned a proposal to move up to 90,000 Series 10 rights into a separate employee incentive pool; those rights will instead be canceled.
The remaining unvested Series 10 rights will now vest in three equal parts in 2029, 2030, and 2031. Shares received through exercising these rights remain subject to a five-year lock-up period.
Metaplanet acknowledged that it must now design a compensation program that rewards management growth without recreating the dilution problem the board just fixed.
