Shareholder advisory group tells members to reject £70m package of WPP chief executive Martin Sorrell
Shareholder advisory group ShareSoc has recommended its members reject the remuneration package of WPP chief executive Sir Martin Sorrell.
The advice, issued today ahead of the firm’s 8 June AGM, comes after WPP last month confirmed Sorrell’s total pay package for 2015 totalled £70m. The figure included a £62.8m long-term bonus.
Read more: Martin Sorrell's £70m: The defence (and not just from Sorrell and WPP)
Advising members to vote against the remuneration report resolution, ShareSoc said Sorrell’s package is “far too high”.
Sharesoc director Cliff Weight said: “In my view, it should be significantly less than half this amount – that would be much more reasonable and certainly more than adequate.”
He added: “In view of his shareholdings and existing incentive awards, I don’t see why he needs to be given any more incentives. I don’t think it will make him work any harder.”
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In an interview in April, Sorrell defended his pay package.
Asked if he feared a shareholder revolt of WPP's AGM, he told Press Association: "We have shareholder votes every year. It is what it is. Shareholders will decide. It's very democratic. We're always engaged with shareholders with anything and everything."
He added: "Most of my wealth, if not all of it, is and has been for the last 31 years tied up in the success of WPP. So if WPP does well, I do well, and others in the company do well. If we do badly, we suffer."