IREN: Bitcoin bothers Dan and Will Roberts’ shares dive on $1.1b founder share grant criticised by investors

The decision to award Sydneysider co-founders Dan and Will Roberts $1.1 billion of shares in Bitcoin miner IREN has sparked a shareholder backlash and 10 per cent stock plunge amid claims the deal makes the pair among the world’s best paid executives.

The grant, one of the largest in corporate history, gives the brothers 18.2 million shares vesting over four years. It equates to 5.5 per cent dilution for existing holders and would lift the brothers from 43rd to 26th on the Forbes Australia 2026 Rich List, taking their combined net worth to $2.8 billion — just behind James Packer at $3.5 billion.

The share market windfall comes as the ex-Macquarie banker brothers pivot IREN from Bitcoin mining to AI data centres and fund the business model shift by issuing huge amounts of new equity.

Total shares on issue have now ballooned more than five-fold in three years. From 64.8 million in June 2023 to 333.4 million in March this year before July’s award of another 18.2 million shares to the brothers.

US hedge fund manager Jim Chanos and Agrippa Investments are among those who’ve criticised the share award.

Agrippa called it “genuinely enormous” and noted the brothers’ combined $US788 million package over four years exceeds what Satya Nadella earns at Microsoft and Tim Cook at Apple.

“Since IREN runs a co-CEO structure while convention is a single chief executive, I think the honest way to size it is the combined figure, because that’s what the company is paying for the CEO function as a whole,” Agrippa wrote.

“At roughly $US832 million over four years, the two brothers together will earn more per year than Satya Nadella receives for running Microsoft, more than Tim Cook for running Apple, and multiples of what Sundar Pichai averages at Google outside his periodic mega-grant years.

“Each of those men runs a company worth $US1 trillion to $US4 trillion dollars. IREN is a fraction of one percent of that scale and isn’t yet a member of the S&P 500, an index in which this package would rank among the ten largest compensation arrangements outright.”

Others including, Neel Khokani the founder of family office, Epochal Corporation, and a large IREN shareholder also complained about the award.

“A board exists to negotiate on behalf of shareholders, not to ratify whatever retention math a compensation consultant produces,” Mr Khokani said.

“Diluting every owner by around 5 per cent with zero performance hurdles after stripping the performance conditions out of prior PRSUs [performance-based restricted stock units] in 2025 is a governance pattern, not a one-off.”

IREN declined to offer its Australian chairman David Bartholomew, or either of its Sydney-based co-founders for interview on Monday.

Shares on issue climb five-fold in three years

Last week, the company defended its governance and the decision to hand the shares to its co-founders, which will vest in equal instalments over the next four years.

“IREN’s executive compensation program is determined by the Compensation Committee, which is composed entirely of independent members of the Board,” it said in a statement. “The program is designed to attract, retain, and motivate high-calibre leaders while aligning compensation with the creation of long-term shareholder value.”

IREN’s board consists of the Roberts brothers and four independent executives, including Australian chairman David Bartholomew and US social media promoter Mike Alfred.

Mr Alfred’s pinned, or promoted, post on social media platform X tells his 352,000 followers he’s “watching up close” as IREN now worth $US11.6 billion “positions itself at being one of the largest companies on the planet” - with “no guarantees”.

In a 2023 post, Alfred disclosed he owned 800,000 shares in IREN via stock and options. If still held today they would be worth $US31 million.

Mr Bartholomew is a former chief executive of ASX-listed energy business Duet Group and is a non-executive director of Atlas Energy.

The stock’s rollercoaster ride - that has catapulted the Roberts brothers soaring up Rich Lists - has been fuelled by a social media-led mania among retail investors. In April 2025 it rose from as low as $US5.59 to $US62.90 just six months later in October 2025.

Last Thursday, it closed at $US38.82 and will resume its whipsaw trade on Wall Street on Monday night.