NEW YORK, July 2, 2026, 13:05 (EDT)
- IREN dropped 11.9% to $38.16 in the latest U.S. regular session trade.
- The two co-CEO RSU grants came in at about $694.5 million at that price, a drop of $93.9 million from the last close.
- The stock dropped despite IREN joining the Russell 1000 and hiring new AI cloud staff.
IREN Limited NASDAQ:IREN dropped 11.9% to $38.16 in Thursday’s early U.S. trade, lagging behind the Invesco QQQ Trust Series 1 NASDAQ:QQQ, which slipped 1.8%. IREN kicked off at $42.48, reached $43.90, then hovered just above its $37.87 session low.
The sell-off hit more than just this stock. AI names and power-focused crypto infra stocks also dropped sharply. IREN’s slide followed news of an executive-comp pay filing and a product hire announced that day.
| Stock or proxy | Ticker | Latest price | Day move |
|---|---|---|---|
| IREN Limited | NASDAQ:IREN | $38.16 | -11.9% |
| TeraWulf Inc | NASDAQ:WULF | $21.29 | -9.7% |
| Core Scientific Inc | NASDAQ:CORZ | $21.57 | -9.0% |
| Cipher Digital Inc | NASDAQ:CIFR | $20.03 | -12.3% |
| Invesco QQQ Trust Series 1 | NASDAQ:QQQ | $712.23 | -1.8% |
IREN’s board approved 9,099,328 restricted stock units each for co-CEOs William Roberts and Daniel Roberts, according to a July 1 filing. The RSUs vest over four years, with a two-year holding period after each vest. The company said both will not get another equity incentive grant before fiscal 2031.
| Grant measure | Calculation | Result |
|---|---|---|
| Total RSUs for both co-CEOs | 9,099,328 times 2 | 18,198,656 |
| Value at $38.16 per share | 18,198,656 multiplied by $38.16 | $694.5 million |
| Change in grant value from previous close | 18,198,656 times $5.16 | $93.9 million |
| Grant value as percent of market cap | $694.5 million divided by $12.74 billion | 5.5% |
| Comparison to service-condition RSUs as of March 31 | 18.2 million over 14.75 million | 123% |
This matters for IREN, where share count and stock-based pay have been in focus. As of March 31, IREN reported 14.75 million RSUs with service conditions outstanding. Stock-based compensation jumped to $162.1 million for the nine months through March 31, up from $23.9 million a year ago.
Management’s message refocused on product and power. IREN picked Kambiz Aghili as chief product officer and named Michael Nudelman chief development officer. Aghili most recently worked in Oracle Corp’s NYSE:ORCL cloud business. Nudelman previously held senior jobs at Alphabet Inc’s NASDAQ:GOOGL Google, CyrusOne and Beale Infrastructure. Daniel Roberts said the key to growth is “large-scale land and power in the right markets” along with the “full AI stack.”
IREN is adding staff as it ramps up in the Bay Area. Axios said this week IREN is spending over $50 million a year on the Golden State Warriors jersey patch. Daniel Roberts told Axios, “Our compute is global,” but said many customers are in the Bay Area. He also said IREN doesn’t want to be viewed as a company that “extracts compute and power.” Axios
Index flows still aren’t supporting the stock. IREN said it was included in the Russell 1000 Index after the close on June 26 as part of FTSE Russell’s reconstitution. The company said the index is a large-cap benchmark and is drawn from members of the broader Russell 3000.
For shareholders, the gap stands out now. Passive index owners may bring in more buyers, but the market prices IREN like an AI infra company that needs cash. The co-CEO grants are not direct cash, but they add future stock claims. At the same time, the company is hiring to expand AI cloud products and data center projects.
Analysts are mostly bullish on IREN. WSJ numbers have the stock at an “Overweight” consensus, median target at $82.50. High target is $126, low sits at $46. Shares were close to $38. The Wall Street Journal
Next up is the award agreement filing. IREN said the complete RSU agreement will appear as an exhibit with its next periodic report.
