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  "docId": "019dd923-622c-750b-8b99-781d6376c0a8",
  "docSlug": "9250edf61831",
  "documentTitle": "MSCI Inc. (MSCI)",
  "authorId": "54_Spruce_Point_Capital",
  "authorName": "Spruce Point Capital Management",
  "documentKindSlug": "activist-deck",
  "documentKindLabel": "Activist deck",
  "sourceTypeSlug": "short_seller",
  "sourceTypeLabel": "Short seller",
  "presentationDate": "2024-01-17 00:00:00",
  "orientation": "landscape",
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  "pageNumber": 97,
  "pageCount": 123,
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  "density": "balanced",
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  "notes": "Uses yellow highlighting to draw attention to specific accounting disclosures and the write-off event.",
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      "bbox": null,
      "kind": "callout",
      "text": "This disclosure strikes us as troubling because it suggests that MSCI actually capitalized software development costs that were not purely for internal use, but rather were tied to external client product sales.",
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      "toolName": "Visual emphasis",
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      "kind": "metric",
      "text": "write-off amount: $16.0 million",
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      "componentId": "019dd953-64d3-706e-a463-0ac587d276e7",
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      "kind": "paragraph",
      "text": "MSCI discloses that it capitalizes “Internal Use” software. Yet, ironically in 2021 it wrote-off capitalized development that was related to external matters, notable sales of products in the Analytics segment. This disclosure strikes us as troubling because it suggests that MSCI actually capitalized software development costs that were not purely for internal use, but rather were tied to external client product sales.",
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      "kind": "source-note",
      "text": "Source: MSCI 10-K",
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      "text": "Disclosures About Capitalized Software Development",
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      "kind": "title",
      "text": "Software Developed For Internal Use, But With External Implications?",
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      "arcName": "Overcoming the Monster",
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      "name": "Cost Of Inaction",
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      "evidence": "The loop is implicit, as the document builds a case for selling MSCI shares.",
      "position": 0,
      "objective": "Highlight the cost of inaction for investors not selling MSCI shares",
      "structure": "The Status Quo -> The Hidden Costs Accumulating -> The Future State of Inaction -> The Tipping Point",
      "confidence": 0.7,
      "description": "Quantify what happens if the audience does nothing"
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