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Ryanair boss Michael O’Leary has qualified for stock options worth more than 100 million euros after the airline’s stock meets key performance targets, paving the way for one of the biggest payments in European corporate history.
The low-cost airline shares closed at 23.74 euros on Thursday. This means that it has been closed for over 21 euros for 28 consecutive years, meeting one of two conditions attached to O’Leary’s bumper wage deal.
The 64-year-old will need to stay at Ryanair until the end of July 2028 to collect stock options as part of the incentive scheme agreed in 2019.
O’Leary, known for his pure style, defended his potential blowout earlier this month after Ryanair reported a year-round profit decline.
“I think we are offering exceptional value to Ryanair shareholders in an age where Premiership footballers or managers receive payments of between 20 million and 25 million euros a year,” he said.
Ryanair’s shareholders “get special value from both my stock options and the management team,” he added.
O’Leary said that as the options will not be shipped for another three years, he and “the rest of the management team will remain here until 2028 and continue to deliver before they can actually get those sharing options.”
“So they didn’t come in for another three years, and there’s a lot of things that can happen from time to time,” he added.
O’Leary also shows that in 2028 you can stay with the airline when your current contract expires.
“My contract will go away in 2028 and if I want to stay after 2028, I will need to have a debate with the board of directors about how my compensation will be revised after 2028,” he said.
O’Leary’s potential wage trade is compared to that of József Váradi, the boss of Wizz Air, a low-cost rival, who is supposed to earn £100 million if the airline’s share price reaches £120 by 2028.
Bumper pay packages are more common in the US. Larry Culp, CEO of GE Aerospace, received $89 million in 2024, making him one of the highest-paid US executives.
Some European companies, including the London Stock Exchange Group, are seeking higher wage compensation from executives.
Since becoming Ryanair’s CEO in 1994, O’Leary has praised the airline’s fierce growth as it has grown from a small regional airline to the power of global aviation.
The airline has used the disruption caused by the pandemic to solidify its position as an uncontroversial leader in Europe’s low-cost aviation after increasing market share as its weaker rivals were stripped of.
O’Leary receives a base salary of 1.2 million euros per year, but also owns shares in Ryanair worth around 930 million euros.
Under the scheme agreed in 2019, he was granted the option to buy 10 million shares at 11.12 euros each if the airline share price reached 21 euros for 28 consecutive days or if he reported 2.2 billion euros in annual post-tax profits up to 2028.
Ryanair said: “If the stock price exceeded 21 euros until the end of its play on Thursday, May 29th, the 28-day stock price requirement was met. However, this is just one of two terms for stock options.”
Additional Reports by Patrick Temple West of New York
