Metaplanet shares drop 4% as buybacks lag market price

The Tokyo-listed stock traded between ¥217 and ¥225 on Friday, with volume of about 14.74 million shares. Its close was ¥10 below Thursday’s ¥229 finish, 12% below the November 2 close of ¥250 and nearly 66% below its 52-week high of ¥639, according to Google Finance data.

Figures reported for November 1–12 show Metaplanet bought 12,256,200 shares for ¥2,999,916,700, or about ¥244.77 apiece. Friday’s closing price was roughly 10.5% below that average. Across the buyback program, the reported ¥28.27 billion spent on 108,703,600 shares works out to about ¥260.06 per share, around 15.8% above the latest close.

Under an October 13 authorization, the company may repurchase up to 200 million common shares for a maximum ¥60 billion through October 13, 2027. Reported purchases represent 54.4% of the share limit and 47.1% of the budget, leaving capacity for 91,296,400 shares and ¥31.73 billion. The authorization does not require Metaplanet to use the full amount. A November 2 filing said 96,447,400 shares had been bought for ¥25.27 billion through October, including an October 14 purchase of 73,981,400 shares at ¥261 each through the Tokyo Stock Exchange’s ToSTNeT-3 system.

In its Q3 earnings presentation, Metaplanet cut its 2026 revenue forecast from ¥16 billion to ¥6.5 billion and its operating profit outlook from ¥11.4 billion to ¥3 billion. For the first nine months of 2026, revenue rose 30.5% year over year to ¥5.90 billion and operating profit increased 26.5% to ¥3.48 billion. The company reported a ¥27.16 billion loss attributable to owners of the parent, compared with a ¥13.53 billion profit a year earlier.

Metaplanet valued its Bitcoin holdings at ¥501.5 billion using November 12 prices, down from ¥578.6 billion on September 30, attributing the change to Bitcoin’s price movement. It held 44,000 BTC at September 30, up from 43,000 at the end of June. The company’s October financing plan includes ¥52 billion in zero-coupon convertible bonds maturing in 2031; up to ¥28.3 billion of proceeds were designated for buybacks and about ¥23.6 billion for repaying Bitcoin-backed borrowing. The initial conversion price is ¥339 per share, and holders became eligible to convert on November 12.

MSCI listed Metaplanet for deletion from its Japan Small Cap Index in a November 11 review. The change takes effect after trading closes on November 30, 2026. MSCI did not quantify potential sales by index-tracking funds and said it may update the review results before implementation.