Moderna CEO Stéphane Bancel’s total compensation last year was surprisingly stable at $19.9 million, even as the vaccine company navigated a “difficult regulatory and business environment.”
Moderna’s total revenue fell 40% in 2025, lower than the company’s expectations, while Bancel’s overall salary was about flat, up 0.2% from a year earlier, according to a proxy filing (PDF) issued Monday.
Mr. Bancel’s pay package was enhanced by a $4.3 million cash bonus, an increase of nearly 120% from 2024 levels and the highest in its category since Moderna became a public company in 2018. His second-largest non-equity incentive was $2.7 million in 2022, the year Moderna’s COVID-19 vaccine Spikevax received full FDA approval. The big jump was partly the result of a major cost-cutting program launched last year by the chief executive.
The significant increase in Mr. Bancel’s cash bonus more than offsets the $1.5 million decrease in his stock and option compensation, but their value remains at risk as they are subject to market fluctuations.
In justifying Bancel’s bonus, Moderna’s board cited “extraordinary performance against the company’s corporate objectives,” resulting in a dividend of 170% of the target amount.
In evaluating Moderna’s performance last year, the board praised Mr. Bancel’s cost-cutting efforts, crediting the company with earning the highest dividends in two cost-efficiency metrics.
Moderna’s board of directors said in its executive compensation report that the company exceeded expectations “through sustained company-wide operational discipline, including portfolio prioritization, productivity improvements, manufacturing and supply chain efficiencies, disciplined capital deployment, and increased use of technology and automation.”
All other items on Bancel’s bonus scorecard, such as regulatory filings and approvals, as well as late-stage and early-stage development results, were at or above target levels, but not total revenue.
The company said its board had targeted sales of $2.3 billion to $2.4 billion from Spikevax and the respiratory syncytial virus vaccine mRESVIA, but due to a “challenging commercial environment,” actual sales were only $1.9 billion. The Board has therefore decided on a dividend of 13% against a target weight of 20%.
Early last year, Moderna announced plans to cut annual spending by $1.5 billion by the end of 2026, as the coronavirus and RSV vaccine market shrinks and commercial competition intensifies. Last May, the company updated its goals to reduce operating costs by $1.4 billion to $1.7 billion from 2025 to 2027.
Job cuts and pipeline culling continued. Moderna’s workforce will fall to 4,700 at the end of 2025, down from 5,800 a year ago, and the company’s research and development spending plummeted 31% last year to $3.1 billion.
Accelerating internal cuts would be a significant headwind for policy. Last fall, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention moved from universal recommendations for COVID-19 vaccination to an individual-based decision-making process.
Earlier this year, the FDA added to the uncertainty clouding the entire vaccine industry. The agency initially caused controversy by refusing to review Moderna’s application for a potential influenza vaccine, but later accepted a revised application.
These external factors are weighing on Moderna’s stock price, which is hurting Bancel’s realized compensation.
Moderna’s total shareholder return over the 2023-2025 performance period was the lowest among its peers, and Bancel’s total realized compensation reached the 20th percentile. According to the power of attorney, the group. The peer group that Moderna’s board bases its executive compensation on also includes other large commercial biotechnology companies such as Alnylam, Biogen, Sarepta Therapeutics and Vertex.
Furthermore, after evaluating the 2023-2025 review cycle, the performance-based stock award granted to Bancel in 2023 was only 50% of the target, which was even lower than last year’s 2022 stock award level of 55%. Thanks in part to a significant drop in Moderna’s stock price, the grant worth $3.1 million vested at a value of $473,326.
Additionally, all stock options granted to Bancel from 2021 to 2024 are underwater, meaning the exercise price of the stock award will be higher than the current stock price.
