Ryanair’s chief executive, Michael O’Leary, has qualified for a bonus worth more than €100m, putting him on track for one of the largest payouts in European corporate history.
O’Leary will be given shares worth €111m (£93.5m) if he stays at the airline until the end of July 2028 because the company’s share price stayed above €21 for 28 days.
The deal, reached in December 2022, was designed to ensure that O’Leary stayed on as boss of the Irish budget carrier.
The payment was described as excessive by Luke Hildyard, chief executive of the High Pay Centre, which campaigns against executive pay, Hildyard argued that the pay often far outstrips bosses’ worth to companies or their shareholders.
O’Leary was already a billionaire in euro terms on the basis of his 44m shares in Ryanair, according to the data company S&P Global Market Intelligence. Those shares were worth €1bn on Thursday. Ryanair was valued at more than €25bn.
Hildyard said: “Lavishing another €100m on someone who already enjoys billionaire status is a morally questionable and practically inefficient way of sharing the wealth that accrues to large companies.
“The value of a payout this size as a reward or incentive to someone who already possesses more wealth than they could spend in multiple lifetimes is limited. Imagine what difference this award would make if it was shared with all the workers that have all contributed to Ryanair’s success.”
The company’s latest annual report said O’Leary would qualify for the bonus if profits rose above €2.2bn “and/or the share price of the company exceeds €21 for a period of 28 days between April 1, 2021 and March 31, 2028”.
Ryanair’s share price first closed above €21 on 2 May and stayed above that level for 28 days, closing at €23.74 on Thursday.
O’Leary would be able to buy 10m shares at just €11.12 each, a price of €111.2m. When those shares vest in three years he could then sell them.
The airline’s share price has more than doubled over the past five years. It fell as low as €8 during the Covid lockdowns that stopped the vast majority of air travel, but has since soared as flight numbers roared back. Ryanair carried a record 200.2 million passengers in the 2024-25 financial year, up 9% compared with the previous year.
The company has long been an investor favourite among airline stocks because of its ruthless focus on reducing costs, which has allowed it to build the biggest network in Europe.
A Ryanair spokesperson said: “If the share price remains above €21 until [close of business] on Thursday 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. The second condition is that Michael and the rest of the management team must remain employed by Ryanair until the end of July 2028, so these share options won’t vest for another three years yet.”
