Japanese Bitcoin treasury firm Metaplanet faces ongoing shareholder criticism regarding equity dilution stemming from its executive stock pool.
Numerous investors expressed disapproval on social media platforms concerning Metaplanet’s 10th Series executive option pool, which was structured to equal 20% of fully diluted shares and scaled automatically as the enterprise issued new stock to finance its Bitcoin (BTC) purchases.
David Bailey, CEO of Bitcoin Magazine, defended Metaplanet’s executive compensation framework in a Tuesday X post, stating that allocating 20% of the cap table to the team over a five-year period is not an unreasonable figure and noting that his organization has backed Metaplanet since its inception.
Source: David Bailey
Certain investors are now requesting that Metaplanet annul the 273 million additional shares generated through these modifications and offer greater clarity regarding upcoming choices. Metaplanet stated that it capped the pool at 319.5 million shares on August 18, though detractors argue this worsened dilution for current investors because the pool expanded from 46 million shares up to 319.5 million.
An anonymous Metaplanet investor known as Bitcoin Pharaoh alleged that Bailey derived personal advantage from the stock options of Metaplanet, obtaining 300,000 options at a strike price of 105 Japanese yen while the equity traded at 510 yen, given as remuneration for his advisory position on Metaplanet’s strategic board.
“Set the pool against what the shareholders contributed and the cut is 26% of the bitcoin: of every four coins the shareholders’ money bought, management took one,” wrote Bitcoin Pharaoh in a Wednesday X reply to Bailey.
Related: Metaplanet buys 2,823 BTC, surpasses 43,000 in Bitcoin holdings
Metaplanet CEO addresses MMXX ties
Simon Gerovich, the CEO of Metaplanet, promised to evaluate corporate governance and compensation guidelines while attempting to separate himself from MMXX Ventures, a Metaplanet investor, clarifying that he holds a substantial minority interest in the parent company of MMXX and maintains no executive capacity there.
“We are continuing to review our governance and compensation policies and will share any updates when that work is complete,” wrote Gerovich in a Sunday X post.
On August 31, Metaplanet disclosed that its chief executive executed 92,000 shares sourced from the 10th Series executive options pool.
Matthew Sigel, who leads digital asset research at VanEck, suggested that Metaplanet ought to halt further option exercises from the 10th Series pool, have current holders voluntarily give back surplus rights, and evaluate additional measures for the shares already exercised.
“Finally, replace Series 10 with a shareholder-approved, five-year incentive plan tied primarily to BTC per fully diluted share,” wrote Sigel in a Wednesday X post.
Within an August 18 filing, Metaplanet admitted that the choice to enlarge the share pool “amplifies the dilution borne by existing shareholders.”
Cointelegraph has reached out to Metaplanet for statements regarding whether it might contemplate freezing the remaining equity within the executive pool.
Metaplanet stock price, five-day chart. Source: Yahoo Finance
Equities of Metaplanet finished higher during Wednesday sessions in Tokyo, reducing their five-day losses to approximately 16.3%, according to Yahoo Finance.
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Originally published at https://cointelegraph.com/news/metaplanets-executive-stock-pool-backlash-ceo-mmxx-ties?utm_source=rss_feed&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=rss_partner_inbound.
