Omnicom's Wren Gets 33% Pay Hike In 2014 As Company Delivers Strong Profit Growth

The biggest deal of Omnicom CEO John Wren’s career fell through last year — the proposed $35 billion-dollar merger with Publicis Groupe. The company’s costs related to the merger were around $50 million. But Wren didn’t let the merger-related activity drastically impact the company’s day-to-day operations.

Overall, the company turned in solid numbers for the year — organic revenue growth was 5.7%, far better than the 2% growth reported by Publicis Groupe, slightly better than Interpublic’s 5.5% but less than WPP’s reported 8.2%. And Omnicom’s net income for the year was 11%.

And the numbers were good enough to earn him a sharp increase in total compensation — which was up 33% to $24 million (and change) according to the firm’s just released proxy statement. Most of the pay came from the company’s executive incentive compensation plan, including about $12.5 million in cash and an equity award valued at $10 million. Wren’s annual salary was $1 million.

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Company CFO Philip Angelastro was No. 2 among top Omnicom earners, with total compensation of just over $5 million. Omnicom Digital CEO Jonathan Nelson raked in about $3.4 million while General Counsel Michael O’Brien took home total comp of $2.8 million.

Former CFO Randall Weisenburger, who left the company shortly after the merger collapse, earned $1.1 million and Treasurer Dennis Hewitt earned nearly $1.4 million.

The proxy informed shareholders that this year’s annual meeting will be held in Lakewood, Colo. (home of Omnicom’s Integer Group) on May 18.

There are two shareholder proposals this year, and the company has recommended that both be voted down. One proposal suggests a change in board leadership, whereby the chairman of the board would be required to be an “independent” board member. Currently, the Chairman of the Board is Bruce Crawford, former CEO of the company. Omnicom basically said the change was unnecessary.

The second proposal -- from the New York City Comptroller’s Office — wants Shareholders to request that the Board of Directors adopt and enforce a policy requiring Omnicom to disclose its EEO-1 data — a comprehensive breakdown of its workforce by race and gender according to 10 employment categories — on its Web site, beginning in 2015. The comptroller’s office has made similar proposals in past years and shareholders declined to approve. 

1 comment about "Omnicom's Wren Gets 33% Pay Hike In 2014 As Company Delivers Strong Profit Growth".
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  1. Walter Sabo from SABO media, April 10, 2015 at 1:43 p.m.

    So their profit has been eaten by CEO comp.

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