Latest news with #shareoptions
Malay Mail
2 days ago
- Business
- Malay Mail
Jackpot! Ryanair CEO O'Leary set for €111m bonus as shares surge
DUBLIN, May 31 — Ryanair boss Michael O'Leary is on track to receive more than €100 million (US$113.6 million) worth of share bonuses, reported PA Media/dpa. The longstanding boss has qualified for the share options after shares in the Dublin-based company hit a six-year-old target. Shares in the budget airline have met a requirement to close above €21 for a 28th consecutive day. The share rule was set up in February 2019, requiring the consistently high level of shares before 2028. It would provide him with 10 million shares worth around €111.2 million. O'Leary will receive the share package if he stay with the business, which he has led since 1994, until 2028. Ryanair shares sat at €23.28 on Friday despite dipping slightly from their peak the previous day. Ryanair has been contacted for comment. When asked about the share option earlier this month, O'Leary said: 'I think we're delivering exceptional value for Ryanair shareholders in an era when Premiership footballers and managers are getting paid 20-25 million a year. 'I think Ryanair shareholders are getting a particular value out of our share options - both mine and the rest of the management team.' Rival low-cost rival carrier Wizz Air has a similar pay pledge for its chief executive Jozsef Varadi, which would provide him with £100 million (US$135 million) worth of bonuses if its share reached £120 by 2028. Its shares are currently valued at around £16. — Bernama/dpa
Irish Times
3 days ago
- Business
- Irish Times
Ryanair boss Michael O'Leary hits €100m bonus target
Ryanair boss Michael O'Leary has qualified for share options worth more than €100 million after the airline's shares hit a key performance target, paving the way for one of the biggest payouts in European corporate history. Shares this week closed at more than €21 for a 28th consecutive day, meeting one of two conditions attached to Mr O'Leary's bumper pay deal. The 64-year-old will have to stay at Ryanair until the end of July 2028 to collect the share options – worth more than €111 million – as part of an incentive scheme agreed in 2019. Mr O'Leary, known for his pugnacious style, defended his potential windfall earlier this month after Ryanair reported a fall in full-year profits. [ Ryanair's sky-high gains fuel O'Leary's bonus ambitions Opens in new window ] [ O'Leary flies closer to €100m pay-day Opens in new window ] 'I think we're delivering exceptional value for Ryanair shareholders in an era when premiership footballers or the managers are getting paid €20 million to €25 million a year,' he said. READ MORE Ryanair shareholders, he added, were 'getting particular value out of our share options – both mine and the rest of the management team'. Mr O'Leary said that as the options would not vest for another three years, he and the 'rest of the management team have to stay here to 2028 and continue to deliver before we can actually get hold of those share options'. 'So they don't come around for another three years and a lot can happen between now and then,' he added. Mr O'Leary also signalled he could stay at the airline when his current contract expired in 2028. 'My contract runs out in 2028 and there'll have to be some discussion I presume with the board as to how my remuneration will be fixed from 2028 onwards, if they want me to stay on after 2028,' he said. Mr O'Leary's potential pay deal compares with that of József Váradi, boss of low-cost rival Wizz Air, who stands to earn £100 million if that airline's share price hits £120 by 2028. But Wizz Air has previously conceded that this was unlikely to be met with the shares trading well below that level. Bumper pay packages are more common in the US. GE Aerospace chief executive Larry Culp received $89 million in 2024, making him one of the highest-paid US executives. Some European companies, including the London Stock Exchange Group, have been pushing for higher pay rewards for their executives. Since becoming chief executive of Ryanair in 1994, Mr O'Leary has masterminded the airline's breakneck growth as it has grown from a small regional airline into a force in global aviation. The airline has cemented its position as the undisputed leader in European low-cost aviation after using the disruption caused by the pandemic to increase its market share as weaker rivals retrenched. Mr O'Leary receives a basic salary of €1.2 million a year, but also owns a stake in Ryanair worth about €930 million. Under the scheme agreed in 2019, he was granted the options to buy 10 million shares at €11.12 each if either the airline's share price hit €21 for 28 consecutive days, or it reported €2.2 billion in annual profits after tax any time up to 2028. Ryanair said: 'If the share price remains above €21 until close of play on Thurs 29 May, then the 28-day share price condition will have been met. However, this is only one of two conditions for the share options to vest.' – Copyright The Financial Times Limited
Reuters
4 days ago
- Business
- Reuters
Ryanair CEO O'Leary hits share-price target that could earn him 100 million euros
DUBLIN, May 29 (Reuters) - Ryanair (RYA.I), opens new tab Chief Executive Michael O'Leary on Thursday hit a share-price target that could earn him over 100 million euros, a payout he told investors earlier this month would be good value compared to the salaries of football stars. The share price of Europe's largest low-cost carrier on Thursday closed above 21 euros for a 28th consecutive day, meeting a key condition of a share-option scheme, originally set in 2019 on the eve of the COVID-19 pandemic. If O'Leary, 64, remains with Ryanair until July 2028, he will be granted the option of buying 10 million shares at 11.12 euros per share, according to the company's annual report. At Thursday's closing price of 23.74 euros, that would represent a discount of 126 million euros. "I think we're delivering exceptional value for Ryanair shareholders in an era when Premiership footballers and managers are getting paid 20-25 million a year," O'Leary said when asked about the share option on an analyst call earlier this month. "I think Ryanair shareholders are getting a particular value out of our share options - both mine and the rest of the management team," he said on the call, after the airline reported an annual after-tax profit of 1.6 billion euros. A Ryanair spokesperson earlier this week said the airline was not planning to comment on Thursday's milestone as the options would not vest for another three years. In his three decades as chief executive, O'Leary has helped transform Ryanair from a small Irish regional carrier to Europe's largest airline by passenger numbers. He is the airline's eighth-largest shareholder with 44.1 million shares, representing 4.15% of the company. He was granted a significant stake in the 1990s during his early years as chief executive. Ryanair's share price fell as low as 8 euros at the start of the COVID pandemic, just months after the 21 euro target was set.
