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  "documentTitle": "MSCI Inc. (MSCI)",
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  "authorName": "Spruce Point Capital Management",
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  "sourceTypeLabel": "Short seller",
  "presentationDate": "2024-01-17 00:00:00",
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  "notes": "Uses a chronological timeline to highlight the contradiction between the acquisition pitch and later SEC filings.",
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      "text": "MSCI quickly marked down total RCA clients from 2,000 to 1,600 but claimed that it had a high retention rate and that revenue should be considered recurring.",
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      "text": "client count: 1,600",
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      "text": "MSCI's acquisition of Real Capital Analytics in 2021 for $949 million was richly valued at approximately 13x and 48x run-rate revenue and EBITDA. We believe the acquisition was littered with challenges and shows MSCI's propensity for aggressive revenue accounting. MSCI quickly marked down total RCA clients from 2,000 to 1,600 but claimed that it had a high retention rate and that revenue should be considered recurring.",
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      "text": "RCA's 2,000 clients will be a tremendous addition to MSCI real estate's 900 clients. — MSCI Deal Call Aug 2, 2021",
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      "text": "Source: MSCI Conference Calls, Q3'21 10-Q and 2021 10-K. 1) Based on deal press release which reported $70m of run-rate revenue and “high 20s” EBITDA margin",
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      "text": "Timeline of client count disclosures showing a drop from 2,000 to 1,600 clients.",
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