VanEck Slams Metaplanet Over Executive Compensation Structure

VanEck, a well-established asset manager, has criticized Metaplanet's executive compensation structure in a recent report. The company argued that despite efforts to curb shareholder dilution, Metaplanet still falls short of adequately aligning management with investors.

The report examined executive compensation across the 10 largest digital asset treasury companies and labeled Metaplanet's compensation structure as 'Bad.' VanEck cited an equity plan equal to 14.7% of fully diluted shares and officer exposure of 8.2%. In comparison, Strategy, the largest corporate Bitcoin holder, has a more modest equity plan equal to 2% of fully diluted shares and officer exposure of 0.5%, which earned it a 'Good' rating from VanEck.

VanEck attributed the disparity partly to Metaplanet's former compensation structure, which allowed its option pool to expand automatically as the company issued shares to fund Bitcoin purchases. The mechanism caused the pool to grow from 46 million shares to 319.5 million, adding roughly 273 million potential shares.

Metaplanet made changes in August and September by ending the automatic adjustment mechanism and cutting the overall pool by 41%. However, VanEck stated that these changes still 'fall well short of the mark.' The report called for Metaplanet to reverse the roughly 273 million-share expansion created by the adjustment clause and replace the remaining rights with a shareholder-approved compensation plan.