Metaplanet Stock Tumbles as CEO Faces Backlash Over Executive Options

Metaplanet CEO Simon Gerovich is facing backlash over an executive stock-option program that expanded as the Bitcoin treasury company issued new shares. The fallout has sent Metaplanet's stock tumbling by nearly 17% since the start of the week.

The controversy centers on Metaplanet's 10th Series Stock Acquisition Rights, a compensation program created in December 2022. Rather than setting a fixed number of shares for executives, the program tied the potential award pool to 20% of Metaplanet's fully diluted share count.

As Metaplanet began aggressively raising capital to acquire Bitcoin in 2024, the number of shares covered by the executive options increased. The pool grew from around 46 million shares to 319.46 million shares, intensifying criticism over dilution.

Gerovich recently exercised rights for 64.03M shares, taking his direct holdings from 15.56 million shares to 79.59 million. Critics argue that freezing the option pool does not address the underlying concern because the pool had already expanded by nearly 273 million potential shares.