• by Steve McClellan  @mp_mcclellan, June 9, 2015

The big WPP “Pay Revolt” being played up by the European press in recent months was missing in action at the holding company’s annual meeting today.

Shareholders voted to approve the company’s executive compensation program by an 80% margin, despite a lot of handwringing in articles leading up to the meeting about how out of whack CEO Martin Sorrell’s pay package was last year.

It was pretty rich -- Total remuneration for Sorrell last year was 42.978 million British Pounds -- or about $66 million, according to the company’s recently issued 2014 Annual Report and Accounts. That made him the best paid holding company CEO in Adland.

The huge paycheck created a stir in the UK, where reports had speculated that many, possibly a majority of company shareholders might vote the package down at the company’s annual meeting. That happened several years ago (the vote was and remains advisory only), after which the company held discussions with major shareholders and negotiated a decrease in salary for Sorrell and limits on certain incentive pay opportunities.

Most of Sorrell’s remuneration came in the form of bonuses, stock awards and incentive plans. The so-called “fixed” portion of his pay, including salary, pension and other benefits, totaled a little over 3 million pounds,or about $4.6 million.

Meanwhile, new and returning board members were approved overwhelmingly by shareholders, including Roberto Quarta, who joined the board in January and succeeded Philip Lader at the meeting as non-executive chairman. Quarta is chairman of UK medical technology company Smith & Nephew. He is also a partner in the private equity firm Clayton, Dubilier & Rice. Previously he was chairman and CEO of aviation company BBA Group.

WPP also issued a trading update for the first four months of the year that was largely in line with Q1 results. “All in all, 2015 looks to be another demanding year,” Lader told meeting attendees, “although a weaker UK pound against a strong U.S. dollar may continue to provide some modest currency tailwind, partly offset by a stronger pound against the euro.”