Illumina, Inc. management check
ILMN · Health Care · Life Sciences Tools & Services · CEO Jacob Thaysen
Filings as of
3 good · 2 to watch · 2 flagged, across the seven questions below.
- Flag
Have owners done well?
Trailed its chosen peers$100 invested at the start of fiscal 2022 grew to $36, against $122 for the peer group the company picked itself.
- Good
Does pay follow performance?
Pay rose and fell with returnsOver 4 years, the CEO's pay actually paid (equity valued at the share price) had a correlation of 0.91 with shareholder return. 1 means pay moved in step; below 0, the opposite way.
- Watch
What does the CEO cost owners?
1.3% of net income$11.0m of reported pay in fiscal 2025, against $850.0m of net income.
- Watch
Do they own the stock?
CEO stake ≈ 2.9 years of payThe CEO holds 107,770 shares, directly or through trusts (unvested awards not counted): about 2.9 years of pay. 5 insiders sold $592.3m in the last six months and none bought. 15 of 108 sales ran on pre-arranged 10b5-1 plans.
- Good
Are owners being diluted?
Share count shrinkingDiluted shares changed -0.6% a year over the last three fiscal years. Stock-based pay was 6.3% of revenue in the latest year.
- Flag
Is leadership stable?
3 CEOs in the pay tableCEOs in the pay table: Francis deSouza, Charles Dadswell, Jacob Thaysen. 10 filings under 8-K item 5.02 (officers or directors leaving or joining, or new pay arrangements) in the last 3 years.
- Good
Are the books clean?
No red flags on fileNo restatements, auditor changes or late filings since 2021.
Against the S&P 500
Each check's score (0–100) and how it compares: the share of ranked S&P 500 companies it matches or beats, and the median in Health Care.
| Check | Score | At or above | Sector median |
|---|---|---|---|
| Owner returns | 0 | 26 | |
| Pay for performance | 96 | 85 | |
| CEO cost | 41 | 44 | |
| Skin in the game | 38 | 46 | |
| Dilution | 58 | 68 | |
| Stable leadership | 0 | 70 | |
| Clean books | 100 | 100 |
Closest peers
Others in Life Sciences Tools & Services, by management score. Illumina, Inc. is 54th of 60 in its sector.
- 104WATWaters Corporation76
- 173IQVIQVIA71
- 218MTDMettler Toledo67
- 297DHRDanaher Corporation62
- 301TMOThermo Fisher Scientific61
- 374CRLCharles River Laboratories56
- 397AAgilent Technologies53
- 422TECHBio-Techne50
- 444ILMNIllumina, Inc.47
Pay versus performance
From the proxy statement filed April 9, 2026. "Actually paid" values stock awards at the share price, so it rises and falls with the stock.
| Fiscal year | CEO | CEO pay | Actually paid | Other executives (avg) | $100 became | Peers | Net income |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2025 | Francis deSouza, Charles Dadswell, Jacob Thaysen | $11.0m | $12.8m | $3.7m | $36 | $122 | $850.0m |
| 2024 | — | $14.8m | $17.7m | $5.4m | $37 | $92 | −$1.2bn |
| 2023 | — | $14.5m | $4.4m | $4.5m | $38 | $92 | −$1.2bn |
| 2022 | — | $14.3m | $36.7m | $8.0m | $103 | $99 | $762.0m |
The board says pay is tied most to Illumina Revenue. Its other key measures: Non-GAAP Earnings Per Share, Operating Income, Operating Margin, Relative Total Shareholder Return.
Insiders and the CEO's stake
Jacob Thaysen (Chief Executive Officer) held 107,770 shares directly after their latest Form 4 on Oct 5, 2026, roughly $31.7m at that filing's price.
5 insiders sold $592.3m in the last six months and none bought. 15 of 108 sales ran on pre-arranged 10b5-1 plans.
- SoldKeith A. MeisterDirector$591.1mSep 4, 2026
- SoldScott M DaviesChief Legal Officer · 10b5-1 plan$332kJul 30, 2026
- SoldScott D EricksenVP, Chief Accounting Officer · 10b5-1 plan$305kMay 29, 2026
- SoldChristensen Jakob WedelSVP, Strategy/Corp Development · 10b5-1 plan$295kAug 18, 2026
Leadership and governance on file
- Jun 23, 2026Leadership change8-K 5.02
- Apr 2, 2026Leadership change8-K 5.02
- Jan 8, 2026Leadership change8-K 5.02
- May 23, 2025Leadership change8-K 5.02
- Mar 25, 2025Leadership change8-K 5.02
- Mar 24, 2025Leadership change8-K 5.02
- Oct 3, 2024Leadership change8-K 5.02
- Apr 9, 2024Leadership change8-K 5.02
- Jan 4, 2024Leadership change8-K 5.02
- Nov 9, 2023Leadership change8-K/A 5.02
- Sep 8, 2023Leadership change8-K 5.02
- Sep 5, 2023Leadership change8-K 5.02
Latest shareholder vote results: May 26, 2026, including the say-on-pay vote.
Where the money went
Over 2021–2025: $858.0m returned to owners in buybacks and dividends, and $2.1bn of pay in stock.
| Fiscal year | 2021 | 2022 | 2023 | 2024 | 2025 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Revenue | $4.5bn | $4.6bn | $4.5bn | $4.4bn | $4.3bn |
| Net income | $762.0m | −$4.4bn | −$1.2bn | −$1.2bn | $850.0m |
| Stock-based pay | $754.0m | $366.0m | $380.0m | $370.0m | $275.0m |
| Buybacks | $0 | $0 | $0 | $116.0m | $742.0m |
| Dividends | — | — | — | — | — |
| Diluted shares | 151m | 157m | 158m | 159m | 156m |
Educational only, not investment advice. Figures are as filed with the SEC: pay from the proxy's pay-versus-performance table, capital allocation from 10-K XBRL data, insider trades from Form 4s over the last six months, events from the last 5 years of filings. The peer group is the one the company chose. See the method.