Michael Saylor, the prominent Bitcoin advocate and co-founder of the Bitcoin treasury company MicroStrategy (MSTR), has publicly reacted to his company's recent exclusion from the S&P 500 index. Despite MicroStrategy's impressive market performance, particularly driven by its significant Bitcoin holdings, the official decision on Friday, September 5, was not to include MSTR in the prestigious index. This decision comes as a setback for the company, whose shares saw an immediate 2% drop in after-hours trading following the news.

Saylor expressed his dismay via a tweet, sharing an infographic that starkly illustrated MSTR's superior performance compared to the S&P 500 (SPY). The data presented showed MSTR surging by 92%, while SPY recorded a modest 14% increase.

Remarkably, the infographic also highlighted that MSTR had even outperformed Bitcoin itself, which posted a 55% annualized growth in what was termed the “Bitcoin Standard Era Return.” Saylor's tweet implied that formal recognition was perhaps the only missing piece for MSTR's inclusion, given its stellar market standing.

Adding to the intrigue, another large company with direct ties to the cryptocurrency space, the Robinhood platform, was included in the S&P 500 index. Robinhood, known for allowing retail users to invest in both traditional stocks and crypto-related products, made the cut alongside mobile technology company AppLoving and construction and facilities company Emcon Group. Simultaneously, casino company Caesars Entertainment, financial technology firm MarketAxess Holdings, and clean energy company Enphase Energy are being removed from the index.

The rejection of MicroStrategy, despite it meeting various objective criteria such as market cap, liquidity, and public float, sparked discussion regarding the S&P 500's selection process. Bloomberg's Eric Balchunas shed light on this, explaining that the S&P 500 is essentially an "active fund run by a secret committee."

This secretive committee, whose members are not publicly disclosed, possesses the final say and often considers qualitative, subjective factors beyond the strict quantitative metrics when determining index inclusions. Despite the "unfortunate event," MicroStrategy's official X account affirmed that the company would resolutely maintain its course and remain undeterred from its Bitcoin-centric strategy. Meanwhile, Bitcoin itself was trading at $110,832, experiencing a minor dip of 0.5% in the preceding hour, according to CoinGecko data.