Wizz Air is proposing a bumper pay deal for its boss, who it has described as “by far the worst compensated CEO” of main European airways, amid fears his present £710,000 wage could make the place untenable.
The airline desires to present Jozsef Váradi a restricted share award subsequent month representing 300% of his £710,534 wage, arguing his compensation doesn’t mirror a singular “parade of black swan” occasions confronted by Wizz Air. It additionally proposes an extra share-based reward amounting to 500% of Váradi’s wage in 2026.
The airline has been significantly affected by geopolitical conflicts, together with Russia’s invasion of Ukraine and the Isreal-Hamas battle. As well as, Wizz Air has been pressured to floor dozens of planes owing to issues with its Pratt & Whitney engines. A number of airways are additionally combating low fares hitting their revenue margins.
These challenges have left Váradi’s hopes of a £100 million bonus as little greater than a pipe dream. Váradi will bag the bonus if Wizz Air’s shares hit £120. Nevertheless, shares at present sit at round £13.59, having skilled a 38% fall thus far this yr.
Traders have begun shorting the airline in a wager that it’s going to endure greater than its opponents, Ryanair and EasyJet, from value wars, debt, and continued struggles with its engines.
Managing so many crises with little thanks, Wizz Air fears, might hit the morale of Váradi, who has been CEO for greater than 20 years, to some extent the place the job is not price doing.
In a chart introduced to buyers, Wizz Air identified that Váradi’s compensation for 2024 can be a 3rd of what it was in 2019.
Stephen L. Johnson, the interim chair of Wizz Air’s Remuneration Committee, stated in a be aware that Váradi is “by far the worst compensated CEO within the peer group and, absent motion, he’ll stay in that untenable place.”
Traders are set to vote on the decision on the firm’s AGM on Wednesday.
The temper music popping out of Wizz Air has felt bleak for a number of months, and it hasn’t gone unnoticed by Váradi.
Talking in Might, the Wizz Air CEO stated he regretted shedding 20% of Wizz Air’s workforce throughout the COVID-19 pandemic when air journey was closely decreased.
The primary purpose for his remorse, he stated, was as a result of the cull “type of dented the morale of the corporate.”
“We checked out it as an financial difficulty, or a monetary difficulty,” Váradi stated. “And I don’t suppose we gave adequate credit score for the morale impression of it. In order that’s clear early studying, we now have not fallen into the lure once more.”
