He may have left under a cloud last April, however, Sir Martin Sorrell certainly negotiated himself an impressive termination package with news over the weekend that WPP has had to pay its former boss £2.13 million ($A4 million) in a share payout.
The bonus dates back to 2017, reflecting the company’s share price performance between 2014 and 2018 when Sorrell was still in charge of the world’s biggest media company.
WPP had previously said it would not pay Sorrell any bonuses as it alleged he contravened a non-compete agreement when he launched S4 Capital in mid-2018.
And worse may be to come for WPP. Media reports suggest Sorrell is still owed as much as £7 ($A13.4 million) in shares and bonuses from his time in charge and it is something even WPP’s own lawyers have said it won’t be able to wriggle out of.
Sorrell also retains a 1.4 per cent in WPP, estimated to be worth a staggering £150 million ($282 million).
The latest payout will sure to irk WPP management who’d long bemoaned the lavish salary Sorrell paid himself when he was its CEO. In fact, Sorrell’s hefty pay check (and a plummeting share price) was said to be one of the prime reasons the board removed him in April.
