4D·

IREN's Chairman Responds to the Criticism

Chairman David Bartholomew has stepped down following the announcement of the compensation package for the CEOs has now addressed the shareholders directly in an open letter:

How the Board Justifies the Lack of Performance Targets:

Share price targets have failed twice: In previous stock-based compensation plans, the CEOs were required to meet specific price targets: First, the targets were missed, even though IREN outperformed the sector. The reason was a weak overall market (2021) that had dragged the stock down. With the 2025 incentive plan, the opposite happened: The targets were met far too early, which meant there was no incentive.
Sequence: The first package from June 2025 was deliberately kept small (552,197 shares ~0.9–1.4% of the company). The current package is only being released after the CEOs have delivered. Now that the stock price has already risen sharply, the total value of the current package appears so large in the headlines.
Market Value: The value of the compensation continues to depend on $IREN (-4,99%) stock price, with the CEOs directly sharing in the company’s value—or losing out on it.

What the letter doesn’t answer:

The board only explains why price targets didn’t work. It remains unclear why they didn’t set operational targets —for example, a specific amount of completed data center capacity (in MW/GW). Management would have full control over such targets.

The letter serves as preparation for the annual shareholders’ meeting later this year, where shareholders will be able to vote on compensation (non-binding). The chairman also announces direct discussions with shareholders.

The rationale is a reasonable explanation, but it does not change the core issue: The CEOs simply need to remain in office—nothing more.

Source: www.iren.com/investors/news

Pazzzi

@Pazzzi

1Semana·

Compensation Package for the Co-CEOs

$IREN (-4,99%) has the founders and co-CEOs Daniel and Will Roberts, respectively, 9,099,328 RSUs (Restricted Stock Units—shares that are transferred only after a vesting period). Together, this amounts to approximately 18.2 million shares worth approximately $700–800 million —depending on the share price on the valuation date—and represents approximately 5% dilution for existing shareholders.

Key facts:

Vesting: in four equal annual installments over 4 years, beginning around July 2026
Hold period: An additional 2-year holding period following each vesting—the final tranche will therefore not be freely available until the 2033 fiscal year
Condition: Continued employment only— no performance targets (neither share price nor operational thresholds)
Neither of them is to receive any further stock awards until the fiscal year 2031

The FinX community is reacting to this extremely critically —and the core criticism is justified: The package is purely time-based. Previous grants to the same CEOs were tied to share price targets, whereas this time, all that’s required is to remain in office for four years. The two-year lock-up period per tranche effectively ties the founders to the stock price until 2033. While this does motivate the founders to drive up the stock price—since they profit directly from its level—it is significantly less effective than genuine performance-based thresholds. From a governance perspective, this is a clear drawback, and existential for the fundamental investment case .

Source:
https://finance.yahoo.com/markets/stocks/articles/iren-nasdaqgs-iren-approves-800-231421785.html

1 Comentar

Olli@Olli68

It seems I’m not the only one who saw problems here. The board’s defensive IR narrative is certainly entertaining. Using past stock price fluctuations as a justification to completely remove operational metrics like installed MW capacity from compensation is… let’s just say: a creative way to avoid measurable goals.
To me, this looks more like a “just-stay-in-your-seat guarantee” than a real incentive system. It reminds me a lot of the Tesla-Musk debate. From a corporate governance perspective, this is all a bit risky—it almost seems to me as if they’ve discreetly overlooked the “self-service” sign at the entrance.
😅

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