Australian AI cloud company IREN Limited’s (IREN) shares edged lower on Thursday morning. This came after IREN’s chair defended the decision to grant 9.1 million restricted stock unit (RSU) awards to each of the company’s co-founders.
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Two ETFs for long or short leverage on IRENIREN’s RSU Award Attracts Criticism
On June 30, IREN’s board approved the RSU award for William Roberts and Daniel Roberts, who are also the company’s co-CEOs. Based on the stock closing price of $45.91 per share on June 29, this amounts to $417.8 million per CEO — or roughly $836 million combined.
The move quickly drew criticism on social media. IREN stock plunged in the two days that followed.
IREN Chair Says Award to Retain the Co-CEOs
On Wednesday, David Bartholomew, the independent chair of IREN’s board, said in a letter to shareholders that the award was designed to help retain the co-founders only after performance was demonstrated. Prior to the award, Bartholomew said both executives only held what could be considered “modest” stakes for founders at IREN’s stage.
“In the past fiscal year, IREN signed some of the most demanding customers in world technology, including Nvidia (NVDA) and Microsoft (MSFT), scaled its platform globally, and increased its market capitalization from under $4 billion to over $16 billion,” Bartholomew noted. “Our founder-CEOs, Dan and Will Roberts, were central to those results,” he argued.
Why the Stock Award Sounds ‘Large’
Continuing, Bartholomew noted that the process to increase the RSU started in mid-2025. He added that the headline figure is “large” because the company’s shares had jumped many times higher since then.
As part of the new arrangement, future distribution of awards is subject to performance. This places the risk of the award on the executives rather than the shareholders, Bartholomew argued.
Is IREN Stock a Strong Buy?
On Wall Street, analysts remain cautious of IREN’s shares and have maintained their Moderate Buy consensus rating. This is based on eight Buys, two Holds, and one Sell issued over the past three months.
However, the average IREN price target of $77.20 suggests about 80% upside in the months ahead (see IREN stock forecast here).
