Kering offers €20 million sign-on bonus to new CEO de Meo

Kering will propose a €20 million ($22.89 million) signing-on bonus for its new CEO, Luca de Meo, adding to an overall annual salary of nearly €9 million ($10.29 million) and up to 150% of that amount in shares, depending on performance.

In filings made ahead of its September 9 shareholder meeting to formalize de Meo’s appointment, Kering said it would propose that the Italian executive receive a fixed income of €2.2 million and a variable income of up to €6.6 million based on performance.

Kering also plans to award de Meo performance shares worth 150% of his combined annual fixed and variable remuneration, the company added in regulatory filings published late Wednesday, bringing his potential maximum annual pay to over €20 million.

De Meo, who was hired from Renault, last received a total annual salary of €12.9 million, according to Renault’s 2024 annual report.

In return, Kering’s chairman and outgoing chief executive, François-Henri Pinault, will take a salary cut to €700,000, down from around €4 million previously, the company said.

Pinault, son of the group’s founder François, has led the Paris-listed luxury group since 2005.

Kering’s shares, which had lost over 60% of their value over the past two years, have gained 24% since de Meo’s appointment was announced in June.

The €20 million sign-on bonus is intended to compensate de Meo for an equivalent amount of long-term financial benefits he forfeited by leaving Renault.