Metaurus Advisors

Metaurus decomposes U.S. large-cap equity returns into two separable components: dividend cash flows and price appreciation. The firm issues paired ETFs — one that isolates the expected dividend stream of the S&P 500 over rolling periods, and another that captures the residual price return. This lets investors treat equity income as a distinct allocation, rather than a secondary characteristic of a stock portfolio.

Standard dividend ETFs own stocks that have historically paid dividends; they carry full equity market exposure and distribute whatever dividends the portfolio collects. Metaurus isolates the dividend obligation contractually, using a patented component-trust structure. The dividend component does not own equities directly, so its distributions can receive qualified dividend income treatment independent of stock-level price movements. This separation is not available in any other 1940 Act fund.

CEO Richard Sandulli co-founded the firm in 2017. He previously ran WisdomTree's European business and helped build the platform that would become one of the largest independent ETF issuers. Director Jarrett Lilien, another WisdomTree veteran who served as president and COO there, sits on the board. The team's expertise is in ETF product architecture and distribution, not traditional asset management.

The dividend component is structured to generate qualified dividend income, which is taxed at lower federal rates than ordinary income or short-term capital gains. Because the exposure does not require selling underlying stocks to generate cash flow, the vehicle avoids the forced gain realization that can accompany options-based income strategies. The structure is the tax engine — it is not a tax overlay applied to a conventional portfolio.

Metaurus is strictly a product issuer, not an allocator. The firm does not make fund commitments, co-investments, or direct deals. It sponsors 1940 Act ETFs that trade on public exchanges. Institutional allocators evaluating Metaurus are evaluating the products themselves, not the manager as a capital partner.

The firm is headquartered in Hoboken, New Jersey. It operates solely in the U.S. ETF market. Its products are listed on U.S. exchanges and are accessible to any investor whose brokerage can trade ETFs, though the marketing and educational effort targets registered investment advisors rather than retail investors directly.

Metaurus has been granted U.S. patents covering the method and system for separating an equity index into component return streams via a trust structure. This patent portfolio is a competitive moat: any subsequent ETF issuer seeking to create a dividend strip or price-return strip on U.S. equities under the 1940 Act would need to either license the Metaurus IP or risk infringement. To date, no competitor has attempted a replication.