WPP CEO Paid $50 Million in 2013

PARIS--WPP PLC Chief executive Martin Sorrell was paid close to GBP30 million, or about $50 million, for last year, a record sum, a year after the advertising company cut his base salary and scrapped a controversial bonus plan in a bid to appease investor outrage.

Mr. Sorrell's total pay package rose 70% to GBP29.85 million in 2013 from GBP17.54 million the previous year, boosted by a long-term bonus program that has since been replaced with a new plan, according to the group's annual report released Wednesday.

WPP said the payout is linked mainly to the group's share price performance and shareholder return. Shares in the ad-agency holding company rose 243% between Jan. 1, 2009 and Dec. 31, 2013, while total shareholder return rose 241%, the group said in the report.

Mr. Sorrell's compensation has been the subject of outrage in past years. In 2012, more than half of WPP shareholders voted against his pay for 2011, which was up 60% on the prior year to GBP6.77 million.

WPP then took steps to appease shareholders and consulted with investors on how to change its pay plan. Last year, the company decided to lower Mr. Sorrell's base salary for 2013 by GBP150,000 and changed its long-term bonus plan dubbed LEAP, which had been at the heart of investor concern, to bring down maximum payouts.

"While the level of vesting will undoubtedly attract public attention, the close relationship between WPP's pay and performance is again demonstrated by the considerable value that has been created for share owners during that period," noted Jeffrey Rosen, chairman of WPP's compensation committee in a letter to shareholders released as part of the annual report.

The old bonus system hasn't yet phased out completely. Three more five-year periods under the program eventually end in 2016, when the new long-term bonus plan will replace the old one, said a WPP spokesman.

Shareholders appeared appeased with the changes last year as more than 80% of shareholders approved Mr. Sorrell's pay package for 2012, which had surged to over GBP17 million. Some 99.98% also approved the reelection of Mr. Sorrell as CEO.

Still, some shareholders considered the changes didn't go far enough. The Local Authority Pension Fund Forum, which controls between 1% and 2% of WPP, had recommended its members to oppose the 2012 remuneration report and the new long-term incentive plan, calling the payments or potential future payments "excessive."

No one at the LAPFF was immediately available to comment on Mr. Sorrell's latest pay package.

(Correction: This item was correct to show that Martin Sorrell was paid GBP29.85 million in 2013 from GBP17.54 million the previous year. The original incorrectly stated the figures in billions.)

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