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Sorrell In Line for Salary Boost
WPP's salary body is to consider a fifty percent rise in the basic salary of CEO Sir Martin Sorrell, who in November 2008 rejected a scheduled review as 'inappropriate' for the economic climate. Sorrell's £1m basic, unchanged since January 2007, is a smallish part of his total income from the firm.
According to UK newspaper The Guardian (www.guardian.co.uk ), remuneration committee Chairman Jeffrey Rosen has told major shareholders the company should look at raising Sorrell's basic to as much as £1.5m, and thereby increase his potential bonuses and long-term incentive plans, which are linked to the basic amount.
Sorrell sold £50m worth of shares in the Kantar owner in 2005 after a long-term share scheme came to fruition, and last year took home £3.2m extra in benefits, bonuses and shares. Pay packets for other top execs at the group were controversially raised last year.
In the latest annual report, the committee said it had reviewed top level pay and bonuses in detail at the end of 2010 and decided that increases and adjustments were now 'appropriate' - adding that it 'intends to consult share owners before the proposals are finalised.'
Sorrell, who built the group up from next to nothing, has previously insisted that money is not his driving force and has likened his relationship to WPP as 'the closest a man can come to giving birth'.
A WPP spokesman said the process of consultation with shareholders over the proposals was now in its 'very early stages'.
Web site: www.wpp.com .
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