IPG Shareholders Keep Roth, Exec Compensation In Place

Michael-Roth-AInterpublic shareholders met Thursday in New York and voted overwhelmingly to re-elect all members of the company’s board of directors including chairman and CEO Michael Roth.

Voters representing more than 343 million shares cast their ballots in favor of re-electing Roth; 14 million shares were voted against Roth. Results were similar for the eight other board members standing for re-election as well.

Voters also endorsed the executive compensation plan proposed by the company, with less than 7% of those voting yea or nay rejecting it. In 2011, Roth was paid about $13 million.

Shareholders voted down a proposal urging the company to require executives to hold onto a significant portion of their IPG common stock for at least one year after leaving the company. The company had recommended that shareholders vote the proposal down and they did by about a 3-to-1 margin.

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At the meeting, Roth told shareholders that operating profit was up 25% to $687 million last year, while operating margin expanded by nearly 1.5 percentage points to 9.8%, the best margin performance in over a decade. Total capital returned to shareholders through dividends and share repurchases totaled more than $500 million, he said.

The meeting, held at The McGraw-Hill Building in Manhattan was attended by roughly 100 shareholders. The company showed off dozens of nontraditional case studies and pieces of work, including an augmented reality application that digital shop R/GA built for client Converse.

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