MSCI Inc. MSCI

The business

MSCI decides what counts as an emerging market. It publishes the indexes that trillions of dollars are measured against and, more lucratively, that exchange-traded funds are built on. When a fund licenses the MSCI World, MSCI is paid a fee on the assets in it, forever, with no marginal cost.

Around that sit three subscription businesses: portfolio risk analytics sold to asset managers, climate and sustainability data, and a private assets business bought to cover what indexes cannot. They grow slowly and steadily. The index business is the franchise and the asset-based fee inside it is the leverage.