Juan Roig has been climbing steps in the list of greatest fortunes in Spain. However, he has been earning exactly the same amount as executive president of Mercadona for three years. Specifically, 12 million gross euros per year. A figure that, on paper, sounds stratospheric, but is more modest than it seems when compared to what they charge. other great businessmen in charge of companies from the likes of Mercadona.
What has changed this year are the movements he has made with that money. Because beyond the salary, the Mercadona accounts reveal a striking decision regarding their suppliers.
A stable salary, brutal taxation. The 12 million gross euros that Roig received in 2025 are divided into two tranches: 11 million as sole administrator of Inmo-Alameda, your patrimonial company which controls 50.6% of Mercadona, and the remaining million as responsible for the chain itself. Once withholding is applied Personal income tax of 54%, That remuneration remains at 5.5 million net. However, it is not common for a CEO or president to receive this compensation in full as an annual salary and not broken down into different bonuses that could reduce their tax bill.
The comparison with other large shareholders and founders is revealing. Marta Ortega, president of Inditex, received one million euros as a salary in 2025, complemented by company shares. Ana Botín, president of Banco Santander, received a salary of 3.43 million euros in 2025, to which are added a short-term variable of 3.09 million and another long-term variable of 1.77 million. In addition, it is complemented with contributions to his pension plan and bonus in the form of shares of the entity he presides over. In total, some 18.5 million euros.
If we go to the other side of the Atlantic, Mark Zuckerberg at Meta and Elon Musk at Tesla are assigned a symbolic salary of one dollar and articulate their real compensation through millionaire stock option bonuseswhose taxation is lower than that of an ordinary salary. The key difference between these CEOs and Juan Roig is that Mercadona is not listed on the stock market, which prevents it from resorting to that mechanism: the money comes directly from salary and dividend.
More loans must be given: the cost of Store 9. Mercadona is transforming your supermarkets with a new model called Store 9that rearrange the fresco sections and completely redefines how the fishmonger works. Traditional counters they will lose space in favor of tray lines, and the entire section will be centralized in a single point in the establishment. The problem is that this change is not only faced by Mercadona, but its suppliers also need to industrialize their processes to be able to serve the product under the new conditions. And that costs money.
That’s where the financing comes in. The loans that Mercadona grants to its suppliers They went from 41 to 171 million euros between 2024 and 2025, quadrupling their volume in a single year. The chain itself has recognized that this increase responds to financial support lent to its suppliers specialized in fish so that they can face the conversion and keep up with Mercadona towards its new supermarket concept.
The Roig Arena: 400 million at a time. According to published The EconomistInmo-Alameda’s accounts closed 2025 with a consolidated result of 1,277 million euros, 4% less than the previous year. The main cause is in the decision to account for the 400 million invested in the Roig Arena in a single exercise, which generated a negative result of equivalent magnitude. The logic behind the movement is to take the hit once and for all so that the pavilion can operate from scratch, without carrying the debt of its construction.
The venue, inaugurated in September 2025, generated 11 million euros in its first months of activity, and estimates point to an annual economic impact of 150 million thanks to concerts, sporting and cultural events. Outside the Arena, Roig allocated a total of 220 million in 2025 from his net salary and dividends to initiatives such as the business school Navy CompaniesValencia Basket and the Trinidad Alfonso Foundation, within the Legacy Project which has been promoted since 2012 by Juan Roig and Hortensia Herrero.
Image | Mercadona
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