WPP Sir Martin Sorrell under scrutiny over £43million pay package

Sir Martin Sorrell, CEO of WPP, has come under fire once again after his £43 million pay package angered shareholders and leading proxy advisory groups.

This is not the first time that shareholders of WPP, a multinational advertising and public relations company, have expressed concerns over Sorrell’s pay. The CEO earned an impressive £36million last year as part of his leadership equity acquisition plan, (LEAP), which was scrapped in 2012 after 60% of shareholders voted against it at WPP’s AGM.

Glass Lewis and Institutional Shareholder Services, two prominent proxy advisory services in the world, has advised interested parties to once again vote against Sorrell’s extortionate bonuses, claiming that the package is “wholly excessive” and that it “far exceeds the compensation given to chief executives at similar firms”.

Sorrell’s wage makes him the highest paid CEO within the FTSE 100, with the second being Royal Dutch Shell’s Ben van Beurden at less than half his annual salary. However, Sir Sorrell has vigorously defended his £43million pay-out, claiming that this number fairly reflects the time and effort he has invested in the company during the 30 years since he founded it.