MSCI Inc. 8-K

What Happened MSCI Inc. (and subsidiary MSCI Limited) filed a Form 8‑K on Jan 28, 2026 reporting an amendment (dated Jan 27, 2026) to its Master Index License Agreement for Exchange Traded Funds with BlackRock Fund Advisors and certain affiliates. The Amendment extends the Existing ETF Agreements through March 31, 2035 and then provides for automatic three‑year renewals unless either party gives notice to terminate. MSCI will continue to license certain MSCI equity indexes as the basis for BlackRock’s ETFs and BlackRock will continue to pay periodic license fees calculated on each Fund’s assets under management (AUM) and expense ratio. The Amendment revises fees for certain Funds effective Jan 1, 2026 with additional changes effective Jan 1, 2027; otherwise the fee constructs remain materially unchanged.

Key Details

• Amendment effective date: January 27, 2026; extended term through March 31, 2035, then auto‑renewing in three‑year increments.
• Fee basis: periodic license fees tied to each Fund’s AUM and expense ratio; revised fee schedule varying by expense ratio and AUM effective 1/1/2026 and further changes 1/1/2027.
• Scope: continues licensing of MSCI equity indexes as ETF benchmarks to BlackRock.
• Ownership note: BlackRock reported investment discretion over 5,400,012 MSCI shares as of Dec 31, 2024 (reported as 7.3% of outstanding shares based on MSCI’s Dec 31, 2025 share count) per a Schedule 13G/A filing.

Why It Matters The amendment secures a long‑term relationship with BlackRock, a major ETF provider, giving MSCI multi‑year visibility into index licensing revenue tied to ETF AUM and expense ratios. Revised fees could affect MSCI’s recurring revenue depending on fund flows and expense‑ratio dynamics (the agreement balances price vs. volume). No material changes beyond the term extension and fee revisions were disclosed in the filing.