Michael O’Leary has hit his target. Ryanair’s share price stayed above €21 for 28 days, earning him a €125 million bonus if he stays until 2028.
The deal has its critics. “Morally questionable,” said Luke Hildyard of the High Pay Centre, a UK think tank. Others argue such payouts reward luck more than leadership, with cheap oil, index inclusion and billions in share buybacks all helping lift Ryanair’s stock.
O’Leary might counter that Ryanair shares have more than doubled since the deal was struck in 2019, comfortably outperforming rival airlines.
Contrast that with Starbucks, where Brian Niccol was handed a reported $113 million sign-on package last August to replace embattled CEO Laxman Narasimhan. Shares soared 25 per cent on the news, adding $21 billion in market value.
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Since then, Starbucks has slashed head office jobs, trimmed menus and promised a return to its coffeehouse roots. But the results remain bitter. Margins and profits are down. Competition remains fierce in China. The stock tanked after last month’s earnings miss and has now given up almost all of its Niccol bump.
Niccol may yet prove his worth – his turnaround of Chipotle is textbook stuff – but the caffeine hit investors got from his arrival has faded fast.
O’Leary, never one to miss a jab, might well look at Starbucks and say: at least I had to do something to get my millions.
