- Expands Morgan Stanley at Work with Next Gen Transfer Agent Capabilities to Simplify Equity Ownership Infrastructure for Companies and their Shareholders
- Connects Cap Table Management, Equity Administration, Share Transfer, and Wealth Management to Support Clients Through Private-to-Public Transitions and Liquidity Events
- Will Strengthen Digital Asset Ecosystem with Key Infrastructure for Future Tokenization Initiatives
NEW YORK--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Morgan Stanley (NYSE: MS) today announced that it has entered into an agreement to acquire Vinyl Equity, a digital-first SEC-registered transfer agent and shareholder recordkeeping platform. The acquisition expands Morgan Stanley at Work's ecosystem by adding transfer agency capabilities, giving companies a single platform for cap table management, equity administration, share transfer, and wealth management infrastructure across private and public markets.
"Our clients have told us they want greater innovation in this space. Vinyl helps us meet that demand while strengthening the integrated experience we deliver to issuers and shareholders,” said Scott Whatley, Head of Morgan Stanley at Work. “As a global, differentiated, and scaled equity compensation administrator, we help thousands of companies through their lifecycle. Adding Vinyl’s transfer agency capabilities helps us further deepen these relationships."
Founded in 2022, Vinyl has developed a digital-native platform that modernizes the historically manual work of transfer agents through digital workflows, real-time reporting, and streamlined administration. Vinyl works alongside issuers, counsel, and banking partners with a focus on some of the most operationally demanding moments of a private company, such as the IPO process. The platform is built to handle the complexity that comes with taking a company public.
"Private markets are playing an increasingly important role in wealth management as companies stay private for longer and value is created outside the public markets," said Jed Finn, Head of Morgan Stanley Wealth Management. "As these companies grow larger and more complex, the infrastructure must keep pace when they enter the public markets. At the same time, blockchain technology, atomic settlement, and tokenization are reshaping the industry. As part of Morgan Stanley Wealth Management’s private-to-public platform, Vinyl's digital-first technology will help us advance how ownership is recorded, transferred, and managed."
"We started Vinyl with the belief that the infrastructure supporting corporate ownership needed to change," said Rob Schoder, Co-Founder and Chief Executive Officer of Vinyl Equity. "Joining Morgan Stanley provides an exciting opportunity to accelerate that vision and deliver our technology and expertise to a broader range of companies."
Across its suite of services, Morgan Stanley at Work covers roughly 50% of the S&P 500 and over 70% of the Top 100 unicorns based on market cap, serving 3,400+ corporate clients, and supporting 6.7 million participants. It is the largest provider of Rule 144 and Rule 10b5-1 transaction services.
Together with Morgan Stanley Wealth Management’s Private Markets Transaction Desk and private share marketplace EquityZen, Vinyl strengthens its network of solutions for late-stage private companies preparing for an IPO. Morgan Stanley Wealth Management's collaboration with private capital software platform Carta extends that reach, with Morgan Stanley as Carta’s exclusive referral partner for U.S. equity management and workplace solutions for late-stage private companies, as well as the preferred wealth manager for Carta participants. To serve the individuals behind those companies, Morgan Stanley’s Founders Specialists are equipped to address the distinct needs of founders and private market executives.
The transaction is subject to customary closing conditions and is expected to close in 1Q 2027.
Morgan Stanley was advised by Morgan Stanley & Co. LLC as financial advisor and Sidley Austin LLP as legal counsel. FT Partners acted as exclusive financial advisor to Vinyl Equity. Cooley LLP acted as legal counsel to Vinyl Equity.
About Morgan Stanley at Work
Morgan Stanley at Work provides workplace financial benefits that build confidence and foster loyalty—helping companies attract and retain top talent. Its end-to-end solutions support organizations at every stage of growth through a combination of modern technology, insightful guidance and dedicated service, including Equity, Deferred Compensation, Executive Services, and Saving and Giving solutions. Each solution also includes a Financial Wellness program that gives employees the knowledge, tools and support to make the most of their benefits and work toward their life goals.
About Morgan Stanley
Morgan Stanley (NYSE: MS) is a leading global financial services firm providing a wide range of investment banking, securities, wealth management and investment management services. With offices in 42 countries, the Firm’s employees serve clients worldwide including corporations, governments, institutions and individuals. For further information about Morgan Stanley, please visit https://www.morganstanley.com/.
About Vinyl Equity
Vinyl Equity is an SEC-registered transfer agent serving companies across the NYSE, Nasdaq, and OTC Markets. Vinyl supports publicly traded and soon to be publicly traded issuers with shareholder recordkeeping, proxy administration, corporate actions management, and paying agency solutions. Vinyl investors included Jump Capital, Mitsubishi UFJ Innovation Partners, Spark Capital, Index Ventures, and Infinity Ventures.
Forward-Looking Statements
This communication contains “forward-looking statements” within the meaning of the federal securities laws, including Section 27A of the Securities Act of 1933, as amended, and Section 21E of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, as amended. In this context, forward-looking statements often address the expected timing and benefits of the proposed transaction and expected future business and financial performance and financial condition, and often contain words such as “expect,” “anticipate,” “intend,” “plan,” “believe,” “will,” and similar expressions. Readers are cautioned not to place undue reliance on forward-looking statements, which speak only as of the date on which they are made, which reflect management’s current estimates, projections, expectations, assumptions, interpretations or beliefs and which are subject to risks and uncertainties that may cause actual results to differ materially. Important factors that may cause such a difference include, but are not limited to, (i) the risk that the proposed transaction does not close on the anticipated terms or timing, or at all, (ii) potential adverse effects resulting from the announcement or completion of the transaction, (iii) the possibility that the anticipated benefits of the proposed transaction are not realized or are not realized within an expected time period, (iv) the ability of Morgan Stanley to integrate the Vinyl Equity business successfully and to achieve anticipated synergies, and (v) legal, regulatory, and technological developments affecting transfer agency services, digital assets, and tokenization. For a discussion of additional risks and uncertainties that may affect the future results of Morgan Stanley, please see “Forward-Looking Statements” preceding Part I, Item 1, “Competition” and “Supervision and Regulation” in Part I, Item 1, “Risk Factors” in Part I, Item 1A, “Legal Proceedings” in Part I, Item 3, “Management’s Discussion and Analysis of Financial Condition and Results of Operations” in Part II, Item 7 and “Quantitative and Qualitative Disclosures about Risk” in Part II, Item 7A, in Morgan Stanley’s Annual Report on Form 10-K for the year ended December 31, 2025 and other items throughout the Form 10-K, Quarterly Reports on Form 10-Q and Current Reports on Form 8-K, including any amendments thereto. Except as required by applicable law, Morgan Stanley does not undertake to update the forward-looking statements to reflect the impact of circumstances or events that may arise after the date of the forward-looking statements.
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Contacts
Media Relations Contact: Thayer Fox; Thayer.Fox@morganstanley.com