Michael O’Leary has agreed to extend his contract with Ryanair by a further four years to 2032, in a deal that could net him €153 million by way of a stock options plan.
The budget carrier said the new contract with its chief executive will run until April 2032, within weeks of him turning 71, with the deal having been agreed following “months of discussion” with O’Leary and “extensive engagement with the group’s largest shareholders”.
O’Leary is now 65. His current contract runs out in 2028.
The new contract includes a “modest annual salary and a capped annual bonus”, the group said in a statement. He has been on an annual salary of €1.2 million and is entitled to a maximum bonus equating to 50 per cent of his base pay since 2024.
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O’Leary, who has led Ryanair since 1994, also qualifies for a new one-off purchase option over 10 million shares in Ryanair under the new deal. Subject to O’Leary remaining in employment with the group until April 2032, he will be able to buy the shares at a price of €26.70 – the level at which the shares were trading before the war in Iran – if the share price exceeds €42 for 28 consecutive days until the end of March 2032.
The awards are exercisable if Ryanair’s annual net profit breaches the €4 billion level. Its profit for the year to March amounted to €2.26 billion.
The share awards would be worth €153 million upon Ryanair’s stock hitting the €42 per share level.
“As previously announced, this spring the board commenced discussions with MOL on his contract,” said Ryanair chairman Stan McCarthy (MOL stands for Michael O’Leary).
“I am pleased to report that this process, which included extensive engagement with Ryanair’s largest shareholders, has successfully concluded with Michael agreeing to extend his leadership of the Ryanair Group for the next six years to April 2032, for the benefit of all shareholders.”
The fresh contract comes a year after O’Leary qualified for share options worth about a net €100 million to him at the time, after the airline’s shares hit a key performance target.
Shares closed at more than €21 for a 28th consecutive day in May 2025, meeting one of two conditions attached to O’Leary’s bumper pay deal. The executive will have to stay at Ryanair until the end of July 2028 to collect the share options.
With Ryanair’s shares changing hands at about €25.75 on Friday, having rallied more than 8 per cent this week after the US and Iran a peace plan, the net value of that options plan is also currently worth close to €150 million.
O’Leary had almost 44.1 million shares in Ryanair in March 2025, according to the carrier’s most recent annual report. He raised more than €45 million last summer selling off almost 1.9 million of those shares.
His remaining holding is worth more than €1 billion. This excludes any impact from the two major stock options packages.
