How much do the directors of the Ibex companies earn?

BarcelonaIn a year like 2025, with record stock market gains, the main executives of the Ibex companies, the main benchmark of the Spanish equity market, overwhelmingly earned very significant incomes, further widening the gap with the average earnings of their staff. The link between remuneration and stock performance contributed to boosting the incomes of many senior executives. A clear example was Manuel Manrique, president of Sacyr, who topped the rankings by earning 32.6 million euros, 384.59% more than the previous year, thanks to a bonus for the company's stock market rise since the pandemic. As a consequence of this plan, this executive, one of the founders of Sacyr, multiplied his remuneration of around 6.7 million from 2022, 2023, and 2024. The fact is that Manrique's remuneration was 628 times the average earned by the company's staff, which is around 52,000 euros, according to the directors' remuneration report published by this company.

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The second place on this Ibex podium was occupied by the president of Banco Santander, Ana Botín, with 18.5 million, an increase of 34.63% compared to 2024. She was not only the highest-paid executive in Spanish banking but would have taken first place in the entire Ibex if it weren't for Sacyr's share plan, which catapulted Manuel Manrique's earnings. Botín's earnings, from the family that has traditionally controlled the financial institution, multiplied the average salary of the workforce by 299. At this bank, CEO Héctor Grisi earned 10.3 million, 23.84% more; and José Antonio Álvarez, who previously held this position and is now vice-president, earned 6.6 million, 11.02% more. The bronze medal in this podium of top executives went to another regular at the top, the president of Iberdrola, José Ignacio Sánchez Galán, with 15.86 million euros, 12.17% more, 193 times more than the average salary of his workforce.

According to a study by Oxfam Intermón, still with data from 2024, the 40 largest Spanish companies maintain and widen extreme salary gaps. This study stated that the highest salary in these companies was on average 111 times higher than the average payroll. According to this salary ratio, a person with an average salary would have to work more than a century to match what the top executive earns in a year. With the 2025 data, the differentials have grown.

Another of the highest-paid executives –occupying fourth place– was the CEO of Inditex, Óscar García Maceiras, who earned 11.5 million, 2.98% more. The president, Marta Ortega, again earned one million euros, as in 2024 and 2023. The average salary of the staff was 40,000 euros, 5.26% more. The next highest-paid executive was the CEO of ACS, Juan Santamaría, with 10.7 million, 32.87% more, above his president and mentor, Florentino Pérez, with 9.137 million, 14.83% more. The average salary of the ACS staff was 60,000 euros, 1.4% less.

In addition, there were changes in the leadership of large companies that resulted in substantial severance payments. The most notable was that of José María Álvarez-Pallete, who stepped down as president of Telefónica and was replaced by Marc Murtra. This was one of the events that led the president of La Caixa, Isidre Fainé, to dismiss Ángel Simón –now president of Indra– who resigned a few days ago and whom Àngel Simón replacedAt Indra, Ángel Escribano, who resigned a few days ago and was replaced by Ángel Simón, replaced Murtra as president in January 2025 when the latter moved to Telefónica. The remuneration report includes the effect of the departure of a director who disagreed with the strategy, Luis Abril, former head of the Minsait subsidiary, who received 3.58 million euros, 141.63% more. Escribano, the second largest shareholder with 14.2% of the capital, earned 607,000 euros as president. José Vicente de los Mozos, the CEO, who has just been re-elected, received 1.88 million euros, 2.33% more.

There are also curious situations. BBVA and Sabadell engaged in a battle lasting almost a year and a half, during which the Basque bank sought to take control of the Catalan entity. It ultimately failed. Even so, BBVA's president, Carlos Torres, earned 9.1 million euros, 14.75% more; and the CEO, Onur Genç, 8.1 million euros, 11.16% more.

For its part, at Sabadell, the highest earner was the main executive, the CEO, César González-Bueno, with 4.8 million euros, 45.33% more, who announced he will leave the position and will be replaced in May by Marc Armengol, the head of the British subsidiary, TSB, sold to Banco Santander during BBVA's takeover bid.

The classification is closed by the president of Solaria, Enrique Díaz Tejeiro Gutiérrez, with 180,000 euros, the same as the previous year; Francisco Javier Marín, CEO of Aena, with 227,000 euros, 4.25% more, above his president, Maurici Lucena, who earned 197,000 euros, 2.60% more; and the CEO of Unicaja, Isidro Rubiales, with 913,000 euros, 34.86% more. In the case of Aena, the salaries of the top management are limited compared to other Ibex companies because it is a majority public company, in which the State holds 51% of the capital.

Outside the Ibex, in the continuous market, among the Catalan companies, Coca-Cola Europacific Partners (CCEP) stands out, where its president, Sol Daurella –representative of the family branch with the largest stake in the group, which is worth about 36 billion euros on the stock market–, who is the richest person in Catalonia, earned 655,000 pounds sterling (about 753,000 euros). Another important company is the pharmaceutical company Almirall, also with a majority family capital, where its president, Carlos Gallardo, earned 1.78 million last year, 4.57% more. The average salary of the staff was 127,000 euros, 7.63% more. In the same sector, at Reig Jofre, its CEO, Ignasi Biosca, also from the family with a majority stake in the capital, received 418,000 euros, 34.79% less. The average salary of the staff was 63,000 euros, 1.61% more.

In another company, Cirsa, in this case majority-owned by the American fund Blackstone, which had an IPO last summer and has recently placed another 4.2% of its capital on the markets, the president, Joaquim Agut, stands out, who earned 1.3 million. The average salary of the staff was 17,000 euros. Molins, for its part, paid its CEO, Marcos Cela, 1.059 million, 185.44% more, an increase that is compared with the 2024 fiscal year, when he was appointed to the position in the middle of the fiscal year. The average salary of the staff was 35,000 euros, 7.89% less.

At Audax, its main shareholder and founder, Francisco José Elías, received 250,000 euros as president. The average salary of the staff was 37,877 euros, 13.50% more. And, for its part, at Ercros, which has just come under the control of the Portuguese group Bonalti, its president until a few days ago, Antoni Zabalza, earned last year 657,000 euros, 0.61% less than the previous year. The average salary of the staff was 61,000 euros, 3.39% more.