How the non-operating-company screen works
In its August consultation paper, MSCI proposed a two-step framework for corporate issuers that are not funds by legal form. It first looks at the share of operating assets. If a company does not pass that core screen, it is assessed against five additional financial measures covering operating expenses, cash flow, fair-value changes in non-operating assets, and dependence on outside capital.
Under the proposed design, a company becomes ineligible when at least four of the five additional flags are triggered. This is not a Bitcoin-only or digital-asset-only rule. The methodology is framed as a broader screen for companies whose profile is closer to accumulating assets and relying on external financing than to conventional operating activity.
Why Strategy is part of the discussion
In an MSCI simulation using May 2026 data, Strategy was among three existing ACWI IMI constituents that would have been deleted under the proposed screen. Yellow Cake and Metaplanet appeared alongside it in that illustration. A simulation shows a possible outcome from a defined historical data set; it is not a decision to remove a specific security.
Strategy draws attention because its balance sheet and financing model are closely tied to its Bitcoin treasury. The company nevertheless continues to operate a software business and has disputed being treated as non-operating. Under the new methodology, the relevant inputs are the filings and the entire set of screens, not merely the size of a crypto reserve or a market label.
Why an exclusion is not automatic
MSCI built buffers into the treatment of current index constituents to avoid abrupt constituent turnover. Its consultation paper says that an existing constituent must fail the screen in two consecutive annual filing periods before deletion. A company that fails only on the latest filing may be placed on a public watchlist rather than being removed immediately.
Reporting on the consultation outcome says the final assessment of affected companies will be released on 11 November as part of the November review. It would therefore be premature to say that Strategy has already lost its place in MSCI indexes. The accurate description at this stage is a methodology risk and an upcoming application of the criteria.
What shareholders should watch next
It is important to distinguish a methodology decision from a decision about the constituents of a particular index. Even after rules are published, investors need to check which indexes include the company, which reporting periods were used, and whether MSCI names it in the final list. Status in one index family does not automatically describe the whole market or a company's stock-exchange listing.
Index changes can affect the flows of funds that track a benchmark, but they do not provide a ready-made forecast for a share price or for Bitcoin. A possible-exclusion headline is not a trading signal. A firmer point of verification will arrive with MSCI's official list and the company's own explanation of how the criteria were applied.
