Publicis Groupe plans to increase chairman and chief executive Arthur Sadoun’s base salary by 20% to €1.4million (roughly $1.63million), after the company found he received the lowest pay among rivals at WPP and Omnicom.
Subject to a shareholder vote, it will be the first pay rise for Publicis’ CEO since 2022. In that time, Publicis has recorded organic growth of 19% in net revenue, a 49% increase in market capitalisation and a 29% increase in dividend per share, according to the company’s annual financial report.
The salary increase will take Sadoun’s total potential package, including bonuses, up to €10.5million ($11.3million), compared to €8.3 million ($8.96million) in 2025.
His €8.3million package included a base salary of €1.17million ($1.37 million) and €3.6m ($4.2million) from performance shares.
As well as closing the pay gap on rivals, Publicis is proposing the salary increase as a reward for the “outstanding performance” of the French group in 2025, which saw Publicis hit a record profit margin of 18.2% and end the year with organic revenue growth of 5.6%.
Publicis shareholders will vote on Sadoun’s compensation at its annual shareholder meeting in Paris on May 27.
A report from Institutional Shareholder Services, a proxy advisory group, said a vote in support of Sadoun's compensation was "warranted but not without concerns", including around the board’s discretion about share vesting. However, ISS said it had no "significant concerns", and Publicis had given "detailed information to justify this base salary increase".
Sadoun is also set to receive a "retention" bonus at the end of 2027 if he remains as CEO. The "retention contract" was agreed by shareholders in 2023 on the condition that he stayed as CEO for five years. The value of the contract is a one-off share award worth 10 times his annual salary.
A base salary of €1.4million ($1.63million) would align the Publicis chairman and CEO more closely with his counterpart at WPP, Cindy Rose, whose base salary is £1.25million ($1.68million).
WPP is currently reviewing Rose’s total potential pay package and proposing to increase it to a maximum of £11 million, including bonuses linked to the group’s performance. WPP holds its shareholder meeting in London tomorrow (May 8).
Last year, Omnicom changed the compensation for its CEO and chairman, John Wren, reducing his base salary from $1million to just one dollar and awarded him options over 4million shares, notionally worth $310million.
His new pay incentive is meant to link his fortunes directly to Omnicom’s performance over the next three years, following the acquisition of Interpublic, and he will only profit on the amount that Omnicom’s share price rises above a key threshold.
Wren previously earned an annual package of $21.7million in 2024.
Source: Campaign UK
