MSCI approves rules that could eject Strategy, Metaplanet from equity indexes

Strategy's founder, Michael Saylor, has described the company as an operating business with a software arm, and its bitcoin treasury as a distinct business segment. He has rejected comparisons with investment funds. Strategy, originally MicroStrategy, sells business intelligence software to companies including Coca-Cola and Porsche.

How MSCI decides who is out

MSCI already excludes investment funds and similar vehicles. The new rules extend that to companies that look like them.

First, MSCI checks whether a company has substantial operating assets, meaning assets tied to a real business. If it fails, the company faces a second test based on five financial ratios covering expenses, cash flow, changes in asset values and reliance on outside financing. A company flagged on four or more of the five is ineligible.

To avoid constant churn in the index, MSCI has added buffers. A member is removed only if it fails the screen in each of its two most recent annual filing periods. A company outside the index is blocked from joining if it fails in either of its two most recent periods.

In a first test run using May 2026 data, MSCI flagged three companies for possible removal from its ACWI Investable Market Index. They were Strategy, Metaplanet and Yellow Cake, a U.K. uranium investment company.