WPP's Mark Read sees pay package surge

WPP’s chief executive Mark Read was awarded nearly $8.2 million in pay and bonuses in 2022, according to the holding company’s annual report.

Read’s pay package included a base salary (including pension payments and benefits) of $1.5 million, as well as $6.7 million in short-term and long-term incentives.

This is a significant increase on last year, when he received $4.6 million in total, consisting of $1.47million as a base salary and $3.18 million in short-term and long-term incentives.

In February WPP - whose PR agencies include Hill+Knowlton, BCW and FGS Global - announced it would pay staff $518 million in annual bonuses, after reporting a 22% increase in profit in 2022. The figure is lower than the record $723 million bonus payout a year earlier.

In his statement for the annual report, Read said that WPP’s performance reflected the “success of our own transformation”. WPP’s return to growth follows four consecutive years of revenue decline between 2017 and 2020.