MSCI grants CEO Henry Fernandez a $15.0 million premium-priced stock option award
MSCI's board committee approved a one-time $15.0 million stock option award for Chairman and CEO Henry Fernandez, with three tranches whose exercise prices of $1,000, $1,100 and $1,200 sit well above the $590.73 closing price on January 30, 2025. The committee also raised his annual long-term equity incentive pay from $11.6 million to $14.6 million, effective January 27, 2025, which matters to shareholders because it sets how CEO pay is tied to share price and performance.
Key points
- One-time option award with a $15.0 million grant-date value, split equally across three tranches with exercise prices of $1,000, $1,100 and $1,200
- Hurdles represent premiums of about 69.3%, 86.2% and 103.1% over the January 30, 2025 closing price of $590.73
- Options vest on the fifth anniversary of the grant date, which is on or around January 31, 2025, and have a ten-year term
- Annual long-term equity incentive pay rose from $11.6 million to $14.6 million, effective January 27, 2025
The filing
Written by AI (Anthropic Claude, claude-haiku-5-5) on Nov 8, 2026, 1:30 AM ET, from the text of the filing and its press-release exhibits only. Written later: this filing was briefed after the fact, when past filings were added to the site, so the brief may be read with hindsight; the filing itself is the record of what was known on January 31, 2025.
Briefs are written by AI from the filing text (each brief's own page names the model) and can contain mistakes — open the filing before acting on anything. Impact (1-5) and tone are the model's reading of the filing for shareholders, not a price forecast. Not investment advice.