Metaplanet Cuts Executive Share Pool by 41% Following Investor Dilution Concerns

Tokyo-listed Metaplanet cancelled 131 million shares designated for executive compensation, reducing the insider allocation pool by 41.1% following sustained shareholder pushback over equity dilution. The company also eliminated a planned secondary incentive structure and extended the vesting schedule for remaining warrants into three equal tranches across 2029, 2030, and 2031.

The revision lowers the conversion rate per warrant from 696 shares to 410, shrinking the total pool from 319.46 million to 188.19 million shares. When excluding previously exercised warrants, the remaining pool dropped 55.5% to 105.37 million shares. Chief Executive Simon Gerovich estimated the value of the cancelled claims at over $220 million, noting the reduction increases the company's Bitcoin per fully diluted share by roughly 8.8%.

The controversy stemmed from Metaplanet's total share count expanding from 153.9 million to approximately 1.35 billion over two years to finance Bitcoin acquisitions. Because the initial executive pool was tied to a percentage of issuable shares rather than a fixed sum, insider claims automatically grew alongside equity sales. While some investors, such as Nakamoto chief executive David Bailey, defended the original structure, Gerovich acknowledged that transparency regarding the compensation model had been insufficient.