Michael O’Leary, Ryanair’s boss of 32 years, effectively dashed any succession ambitions of senior group executives Eddie Wilson and David O’Brien when he moved in late 2022 to extend his contract out to 2028.
Wilson, chief executive of Ryanair DAC, and O’Brien, who oversees the group’s Air Malta and Lauda Europe operations, are both in their early 60s – only a few years younger than O’Leary, now 65.
Friday’s announcement that O’Leary has agreed to remain at the helm of Europe’s largest airline group until April 2032 – which would bring his tenure to four decades – is also likely to have cooled the ambitions of a younger generation of managers who are viewed as potential contenders for the top job.
Will a Middle East peace deal make any difference to inflation?
These include chief operations officer Neal McMahon, chief commercial officer Jason McGuinness, chief marketing officer Dara Brady and Ryanair DAC chief financial officer Tracey McCann – who were each name checked by O’Leary in an interview with the Sunday Independent last July as potential candidates to succeed him.
O’Leary has strong financial incentives to see out his extended contract. Subject to his remaining at the group until April 2032, he would be granted the option of buying 10 million shares at €26.70 per share if annual profit reached €4 billion or if the share price exceeded €42 for 28 successive days. The package is worth a net €153 million.
The new agreement was signed just one year after O’Leary became eligible for a share-option award that was valued at about €100 million after tax when Ryanair’s stock reached a specified performance milestone. Since then, the airline’s share price has continued to rise, lifting the package’s current net value to nearly €150 million. However, O’Leary will only be able to exercise those options if he remains with the company through the end of July 2028.
According to Ryanair’s latest annual report, O’Leary owned close to 44.1 million shares in the airline as of March 2025. During the previous summer, he generated more than €45 million by selling nearly 1.9 million shares.
Even after that disposal, his remaining stake is valued at more than €1 billion. This figure does not include the potential value of either of his two significant share-option schemes.
O’Leary said of his previous stock options plan that it was good value compared to the salaries of football stars. He is unlikely to view the latest arrangement any differently, even though it ranks among the most lucrative executive pay deals ever seen in European corporate life.
The aspiring Ryanair executives who continue to eye his job are unlikely ever to see pay-days remotely comparable.
