New York, July 10, 2026, 16:04 (EDT)
IREN Limited NASDAQ:IREN ended Friday down 0.3% at $41.61 after the board backed a big founder pay deal. The notable figure here is 71.4%. That’s the percentage those 18,198,656 restricted stock units, or RSUs—grants tied to certain milestones—make up out of the 25.5 million ordinary shares available in IREN’s 2025 incentive plan.
The ratio is key since the grant tops the 17.5 million-share pool investors backed last November. IREN logged an 8 million-share annual jump July 1, putting gross registered capacity at 25.5 million. The registration alone does not issue shares.
The math is simple:
| Equity-plan measure | Shares | Investor read-through |
|---|---|---|
| Original pool approved by holders | 17,500,000 | Initial allotment |
| Annual boost as of July 1 | 8,000,000 | Board triggers automatic top-up |
| Total registered capacity | 25,500,000 | Starting pool plus new shares |
| 2026 co-CEO equity awards | 18,198,656 | Each CEO gets 9,099,328 RSUs |
| Grant compared to full capacity | 71.4% | Bulk grant goes to the top two |
| Simple arithmetic difference | 7,301,344 | This isn’t the reported leftover |
The last number comes with a caveat. Employee awards, forfeitures or shares sent back to the plan can shift the available balance. Still, on its own, the founder grant is 698,656 units more than the initial pool for the plan.
Independent chair David Bartholomew said in a letter out Wednesday, “These are large awards and we do not shy away from that.” Bartholomew said the 2025 and 2026 grants for each founder are about 3% of IREN. He said neither co-CEO will get another equity grant until after fiscal 2031. The RSUs come with no performance hurdles and vest in four annual chunks, with each portion subject to a two-year lockup on sales. The last lockup lasts into fiscal 2033. IREN
By the end of trading Friday, the 2026 plan was worth about $757.2 million total, split evenly at $378.6 million per executive. The pay isn’t locked in. The number shifts with IREN’s share price.
| Compensation measure | Latest figure | Comparison |
|---|---|---|
| Current-price value of new grant | $757.2 million | $378.6 million for each co-CEO |
| New RSUs | 18.20 million | 5.34% of shares as of March 31 |
| Nine-month stock compensation | $162.1 million | $23.9 million same time last year |
| Service-based RSU expense | $102.5 million | $13.1 million one year ago |
| Stock-compensation growth | 6.8 times | Multiple year over year |
Rising expenses are having more effect on the pool calculation. IREN booked $162.1 million in stock-based comp for the nine months ended March 31, about 6.8 times higher than a year ago. Service-based RSU costs surged nearly eight times over the same stretch.
Minutes before the bell on Friday, CoreWeave NASDAQ:CRWV slipped 0.8%. Applied Digital NASDAQ:APLD fell harder, down 3.1%. Nebius Group NASDAQ:NBIS moved up 2.4%. IREN’s drop wasn’t as steep, so the compensation fight didn’t set a clear tone for the sector.
IREN is trading about 9% under where it ended June 30, after a stretch of wild reversals this week. The company’s recent move into the Russell 1000 after the June 26 close put the governance issue in front of more benchmark track funds.
The 71% number isn’t the only issue here. JPMorgan Chase NYSE:JPM analyst Richard Choe said Friday that new big players could “put downward pressure on GPU rental pricing” — what companies charge for leasing graphics processing units, which are used for AI. Lower pricing means less revenue per chip, which Choe says could outweigh any benefits from the awards. TipRanks
The next pressure point is IREN’s proxy statement before its annual meeting. Investors want details on the awards’ accounting value, how much is left in the plan, and the outcome of the advisory pay vote. Those numbers should say if the 71% ratio was a one-time retention move or if the company is moving to a stricter equity budget.
Related articles: NASDAQ:IREN
