Individual shareholder Colm Whooley confronted Flutter Entertainment’s board over executive pay at the group’s AGM in Dublin on 29 May, calling the CEO’s $19.7m total compensation unjustifiable against a share price that has fallen more than 60% over the past 12 months.
Flutter CEO Peter Jackson received $19.7m in 2025, with almost $16m of that awarded as shares. In 2024, he received $22m, again predominantly in stock. Whooley told the meeting he was “nearly ashamed” to be a Flutter shareholder.
Pay and performance
Whooley connected the rise in executive remuneration directly to Flutter’s move to a US primary listing, arguing the New York switch had provided justification for tripling pay at a time when business performance deteriorated.
“I’m looking at the accounts here. If you drill down enough, you see three years ago, a very high salary. We go to the American stock market and, all of a sudden, that seems to be an excuse to triple the total level of remuneration to executives. [That] coincides with a downturn in the business as well. Salaries of $20m – it just doesn’t make any sense to me.”
Flutter shares trade at around $97, down from a 52-week high of $313.69. The company’s market cap has contracted from approximately $45bn to around $17bn today. Jackson attended the AGM online from New York rather than travelling to the Dublin headquarters.
FanDuel exit adds to shareholder discontent
Whooley also questioned the severance paid to FanDuel CEO Amy Howe, who was let go last month with a package of $4.37m, more than four times her base salary and the equivalent of two years of combined base salary and annual bonuses. FanDuel president Christian Genetski has been promoted to the top job at the North American operator. Flutter International CEO Dan Taylor takes on a newly created group president role.
“I just don’t get the scale of the salaries being paid, especially given the performance of the company. I believe our number one person in the US has been let go recently, obviously also being paid an astronomical salary.”
Board benchmarks pay against US peers
Flutter chair John Bryant defended the compensation structure, arguing that US-listed companies of Flutter’s scale operate under different pay norms and that 92% of Jackson’s package is tied to performance outcomes.
“We are a US-listed company. If you take the US executive, we’re not going to be able to have the best quality executives in the US unless we pay them compensation commensurate with the size and nature of the task that they have. US compensation is significantly at risk. Take Peter’s compensation as CEO, 92% is at risk, so the headline number you see is not necessarily a number that is received at the end of the day, because the company hasn’t performed to the degree that we would like.”
Bryant pointed shareholders to Flutter’s quarterly financial presentations on the corporate website for additional detail on management’s direction.
AGM format draws criticism
Whooley extended his criticism beyond pay to the AGM format itself, saying Flutter had provided no strategic presentation to shareholders during a period of significant turbulence.
“Considering the company’s gone through such turmoil in the last six, nine months, as a shareholder, I thought I’d hear management actually saying something about the company or the plans. I go to a lot of AGMs, and a lot of very small PLCs, a fraction of the size of Flutter, and they put a lot more preparation into preparing for the AGM and doing a decent presentation to the shareholders who do attend the meeting.”
Bryant acknowledged the share price performance directly and pledged a return to execution.
“I certainly take your point on the share price performance, and I can assure you that we all are 100% focused on delivering the results and executing with excellence and getting back on track.”
Wider pressures on Flutter
The AGM came at a difficult point for the operator. Hedge funds have accumulated short positions generating paper profits of around $2bn since the start of the year, with prediction market competition cited as a key driver of bearish sentiment on the stock.
Flutter also flagged during last month’s Q1 results that it is considering delisting from the London Stock Exchange, more than two years after completing the switch of its primary listing to New York. In Australia, COO Doug Brown has been appointed CEO of Sportsbet, replacing Barni Evans, who takes on the CEO role for APAC and emerging markets.
Jackson’s 2026 payout will be closely watched. With 92% of his package tied to performance metrics, how much of the headline figure he ultimately receives depends on whether Flutter can reverse recent share price declines before its next AGM.
Source: EGR Global, Flutter AGM
