Ryanair CEO Michael O’Leary is in line for a bumper bonus.
In its annual results released on Monday, Ryanair said it had nearly concluded discussions on extending the outspoken 65-year-old’s contract to 2032. He is currently contracted until 2028.
The proposed new contract would give O’Leary the option to purchase over 10 million shares at a discounted price if “very ambitious” profit or share-price growth targets are achieved.
Ryanair didn’t say what O’Leary’s targets would be, or the price at which he could buy the shares, but said that “a further update will be provided in due course.”
It added that the purchase price for O’Leary’s options would reflect the company’s share price before the Iran war, which has seen Ryanair shares decline by nearly 20%
Ryanair shares closed at 27.42 euros on February 27, the day before the war broke out.
At that price, O’Leary’s proposed share options would be worth around 274 million euros, or roughly $318 million.
In his current contract, O’Leary has a similar incentive, which required him to increase Ryanair’s share price from around 11 euros to 21 euros, at which point he was eligible to buy share options worth over 111 million euros, or $130 million.
O’Leary achieved the main condition last May, when Ryanair’s share price exceeded 21 euros for 28 days. He must now stay at Ryanair until the end of his 2028 contract for the options to vest. If they vested at a price similar to where they’re trading on Monday — around 23 euros — he could stand to profit by almost 120 million euros, or $140 million.
If this new pay package followed a similar structure, O’Leary’s new options could allow him to realize a profit of around $300 million.
O’Leary, who has led the Irish budget airline since 1994, already owns a 4.1% stake in Ryanair, worth more than $1 billion, according to its 2025 annual report. His current contract includes a basic annual salary of 1.2 million euros, or $1.4 million.
In his three decades in charge, he has helped Ryanair become Europe’s biggest carrier by passenger numbers. He also often makes headlines for being outspoken, helping promote Ryanair’s low fares and no-frills offering.
In a 2024 interview with The Wall Street Journal, the Ryanair boss said: “The obvious question is, well, is anybody worth 100 million over five years?”
He defended his deal in his customarily forthright style: “If premiership footballers are earning fucking 20 million a year and [Kylian] Mbappé is being paid 130 million to go play football for fucking Real Madrid, then I think my contract is very good value for Ryanair shareholders.”
