• by Steve McClellan  @mp_mcclellan, April 17, 2013

Publicis Groupe CEO Maurice Levy has characterized the holding company’s performance last year as disappointing, and he has warned that 2013 is full of uncertainties. Still, Levy’s total compensation last year -- approximately $24.4 million -- would be considered sizable.

Most of that remuneration -- about $21 million of it -- came in the form of a deferred compensation payout that covered the years 2003 to 2011, according to a filing issued by the company this week. Levy’s compensation covering just his 2012 performance amounted to approximately $3.5 million, which was down about 25% from the previous year. Levy’s annual pay is tied to performance benchmarks including organic growth and net profits.

By comparison, Omnicom last week reported that CEO John Wren received about $14.8 million in total compensation last year -- down 4% -- while Interpublic CEO Michael Roth received about $9.7 million, down 26%.

At Publicis Groupe, Kevin Roberts, worldwide CEO of ad agency Saatchi & Saatchi, was the second-highest-paid executive at the holding company last year. His total compensation was up about 13% to approximately $4.1 million. And Jack Klues, CEO of media arm VivaKi, was No. 3 on the pay list with total remuneration of about $3.2 million, up roughly 5%.

Company COO Jean-Yves Naouri, considered a leading contender to succeed Levy as CEO someday, earned a 14% boost in total compensation last year to approximately $2.1 million.

Executive pay has come under increasing scrutiny by investors in the U.S. and Europe. And in Levy’s case, when word of the huge deferred payout was first disclosed last year, French President Francois Hollande (then running for office) declared it an example of corporate excess and used it to press his case for higher tax rates on the wealthy.

WPP and its shareholders are in a continuing dialogue over CEO Martin Sorrell’s pay. He received a compensation package of about $11 million in 2011 that a majority of shareholders voted against in a non-binding vote at the company’s 2012 annual meeting.

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