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SEGMENT INFORMATION
 3 Months Ended
Mar. 31, 2025
Segment Reporting [Abstract]  
SEGMENT INFORMATION SEGMENT INFORMATION
ASC Subtopic 280-10, “Segment Reporting,” establishes standards for reporting information about operating segments. Operating segments are defined as components of an enterprise about which separate financial information is available. This information is regularly evaluated by the Chief Operating Decision Maker (“CODM”) to allocate resources and assess performance. MSCI’s Chief Executive Officer and its President and Chief Operating Officer, who together serve as the CODM, review financial information on an operating segment basis to make operational decisions and assess financial performance.
The CODM measures and evaluates operating segments based on segment operating revenues and Adjusted EBITDA. Adjusted EBITDA is used to assess segment performance and guide resource allocation, including decisions related to capital allocations and acquisitions. Additionally, Adjusted EBITDA is used to monitor actual performance against budget and to establish management’s compensation. The CODM also uses Adjusted EBITDA for competitive analysis, benchmarking MSCI’s performance against its competitors to evaluate segment performance. Adjusted EBITDA for each segment is calculated by subtracting segment Adjusted EBITDA expenses from segment operating revenues.
MSCI excludes the following items from segment Adjusted EBITDA and Adjusted EBITDA expenses: provision for income taxes; other expense (income), net; depreciation and amortization of property, equipment and leasehold improvements; amortization of intangible assets; and, at times, certain other transactions or adjustments. These may include impairments related to sublease of leased property and certain acquisition-related integration and transaction costs that the CODM does not consider when allocating resources among segments or assessing segment performance. While these amounts are excluded from segment Adjusted EBITDA, they are included in reported consolidated net income and are reflected in the reconciliation provided below.
Operating revenues and expenses directly associated with each segment are included in determining that segment’s operating results. Expenses not directly attributable to a specific segment are allocated using methodologies, such as time estimates, revenue, headcount, sales targets, data center consumption and other relevant usage measures. Given the integrated structure of MSCI’s business, certain costs incurred by one segment may benefit other segments. Additionally, a segment may utilize content and data produced by another segment without incurring an intersegment charge. Within Adjusted EBITDA expenses by operating segment, there are no categories of expenses regularly provided to the CODM.
The CODM does not receive information about total assets on an operating segment basis. Operating segments do not record intersegment revenues; therefore, none are reported. The accounting policies used for segment reporting are consistent with those applied to MSCI as a whole.
MSCI has five operating segments: Index, Analytics, Sustainability and Climate, Real Assets and Private Capital Solutions. These are presented as three reportable segments: Index, Analytics and Sustainability and Climate. The operating segments Real Assets and Private Capital Solutions do not individually meet the segment reporting thresholds and have been combined into All Other – Private Assets.
The Index reportable segment provides equity and fixed income indexes. The indexes are used across the investment process, including the development of indexed financial products (e.g., ETFs, mutual funds, annuities, futures, options, structured products, and over-the-counter derivatives), performance benchmarking, portfolio construction and rebalancing, and asset allocation.
The Analytics reportable segment provides risk management, performance attribution, and portfolio management content, applications and services. These offerings give clients an integrated view of risk and return, along with tools for analyzing market, credit, liquidity, counterparty and climate risks across all major asset classes and time horizons – short, medium and long term. Clients can access Analytics tools and content through MSCI’s proprietary applications and application programming interfaces (APIs), third-party applications or directly via their own platforms. Additionally, the Analytics segment offers various managed services to enhance client efficiency. These services include consolidating portfolio data from multiple sources, reviewing and reconciling input data and results, and providing customized reporting.
The Sustainability and Climate reportable segment provides products and services designed to help institutional investors understand the impact of sustainability and climate considerations on the long-term risk and return of their portfolios and individual security-level investments. This segment also offers data, ratings, research and tools to assist investors in navigating regulatory changes, meeting evolving client demands and integrating sustainability and climate factors into their investment processes.
The Real Assets operating segment delivers data, benchmarks, return-analytics, climate assessments and market insights for tangible assets such as real estate and infrastructure. Its performance and risk analytics services range from enterprise-wide assessments to property-specific analysis. Additionally, the operating segment offers business intelligence products for real estate owners, managers, developers and brokers worldwide.
The Private Capital Solutions operating segment provides a suite of tools to support private asset investors in mission-critical workflows. These include sourcing terms and conditions, evaluating operating performance of underlying portfolio companies, managing risk and other activities related to private capital investing.
The following table presents operating revenues, Adjusted EBITDA expenses and segment profitability and a reconciliation to net income for the periods indicated:
Three Months Ended
March 31,
(in thousands)20252024
Operating revenues
Index$421,743 $373,872 
Analytics172,185 163,966 
Sustainability and Climate84,619 77,884 
Total reportable segment operating revenues
678,547 615,722 
All Other - Private Assets67,279 64,243 
Total operating revenues745,826 679,965 
Adjusted EBITDA expenses
Index110,172 96,112 
Analytics96,155 91,754 
Sustainability and Climate60,798 56,793 
Total reportable segment Adjusted EBITDA expense
267,125 244,659 
Adjusted EBITDA
Index Adjusted EBITDA311,571 277,760 
Analytics Adjusted EBITDA76,030 72,212 
Sustainability and Climate Adjusted EBITDA23,821 21,091 
Total reportable segment profitability411,422 371,063 
Plus:
All Other - Private Assets(1)
14,219 12,510 
Less:
Amortization of intangible assets43,872 38,604 
Depreciation and amortization of property, equipment and
   leasehold improvements		4,746 4,081 
Acquisition-related integration and transaction costs(2)
— 1,506 
Operating income377,023 339,382 
Other expense (income), net45,953 43,489 
Income before provision for income taxes331,070 295,893 
Provision for income taxes42,470 39,939 
Net income$288,600 $255,954 
___________________________
(1)Revenue less segment expenses from segments below the segment reporting thresholds are attributable to Private Capital Solutions and Real Assets operating segments. Private Capital Solutions and Real Assets operating segments do not meet any of the segment reporting thresholds for determining reportable segments.
(2)Represents transaction expenses and other costs directly related to the acquisition and integration of acquired businesses, including professional fees, severance expenses, regulatory filing fees and other costs, in each case that are incurred no later than 12 months after the close of the relevant acquisition.
Operating revenues by geography are primarily based on the shipping address of the ultimate customer utilizing the product. The following table presents operating revenues by geographic area for the periods indicated:
Three Months Ended
March 31,
(in thousands)20252024
Operating revenues
Americas:
United States$302,374 $280,675 
Other33,726 30,358 
Total Americas336,100 311,033 
Europe, the Middle East and Africa (“EMEA”):
United Kingdom123,714 113,294 
Other169,103 151,684 
Total EMEA292,817 264,978 
Asia & Australia:  
Japan30,202 26,573 
Other86,707 77,381 
Total Asia & Australia116,909 103,954 
Total$745,826 $679,965 
Long-lived assets consist of property, equipment and leasehold improvements, right of use assets and internally developed capitalized software, net of accumulated depreciation and amortization. The following table presents long-lived assets by geographic area on the dates indicated:
As of
March 31,December 31,
(in thousands)20252024
Long-lived assets
Americas:
United States$269,556 $253,072 
Other7,305 7,558 
Total Americas276,861 260,630 
EMEA:
United Kingdom18,477 17,632 
Other23,360 22,157 
Total EMEA41,837 39,789 
Asia & Australia:
Japan832 874 
Other27,062 27,601 
Total Asia & Australia27,894 28,475 
Total$346,592 $328,894