IREN handed its two co-CEOs a massive stock award. We’re talking 18.2 million restricted stock units worth about $700 million — roughly 5% of the company. The market didn’t love it. Shares dropped 10% to $38.82 on July 2.
Daniel and William Roberts, the former Macquarie bankers who founded IREN in 2018, are the recipients. The units vest over four years with a two-year sale ban on each tranche. The last shares don’t come free until fiscal 2033.
They also hold super-voting B Class shares — 15 votes per share versus 1 for ordinary stock. Between them, the brothers command nearly 44% voting power. That dual-class structure doesn’t expire until around November 2033.
Short seller Jim Chanos flagged the size. He estimates the award at nearly 17% of IREN’s projected cumulative adjusted net income from fiscal 2027 through 2030. The kicker? Shares vest on time served, not performance. “If the stock drops 50% over the next four years they will still own shares worth $400 million,” Chanos noted.
IREN’s board says the grants are designed to retain the CEOs through the company’s next growth phase. The company is pivoting from Bitcoin mining into AI compute, diluting shares further to fund it — share count jumped from 272 million to 341 million since last August.
Alignment or entrenchment? Depends on what the Roberts brothers deliver over the next seven years.
