• by Sean Hargrave , Staff Writer, April 5, 2018

Oh my goodness. There's only one topic of conversation in London's ad scene right now, and for once, it isn't the size of Sir Martin Sorrell's wage packet. Instead, it's the question of whether he will last at the helm of WPP long enough to get another huge renumeration deal approved, despite the annual shareholder revolt.

It's not clear exactly what Sir Martin is accused of, and to be fair, he deserves to be investigated first and the details released later. It would appear to revolve around receipt or use of funds that were "not material to WPP." That's about all anyone can glean from the charge sheet. 

Sorrell was once hauled over the coals for an overly generous travel expense budget for his wife, facing the obvious criticism that a guy on GBP40m can probably afford to double up when buying luxury travel. Since then, of course, he's gone on to hit the heights of GBP70m a year, thanks to a massive salary, share options and bonuses.

Herein lies the rub. We're not in Kansas anymore. WPP's share price pretty much quadrupled in less than a decade, to hit GBP18 last year. It's now back down to the GBP11 mark, wiping out five years of growth to take the company back to 2013 levels. 

It's pretty easy to keep on winning votes for massive wage settlements when you have quadrupled the value of the stock belonging to shareholders who ultimately decide your fate. When the barometer proves fortunes can come down as well as up, it's a trickier sale. 

And there's no real light at the end of the tunnel. Sorrell is on record saying 2017 was a tough year and flatlining revenues are expected again this year. The agency landscape is needing to focus on doing more for less, and the pressure is for holding companies to rationalise their portfolio of agencies in to merged groups.

For those Sorrell fans who were happy to keep riding the upward line on WPP's share price graph, there is a rude awakening. The holding group is not immune to economic pressures. Sorrell is not a wizard after all. 

The Times believes there is a boardroom split breaking out at WPP and Sorrell doesn't have the protection of offering great figures this time. 

Already Campaign is looking at who might replace him -- a sure sign that this investigation is being taken very seriously indeed. 

None of us outside WPP knows what the charge is and whether it has any merit. What we can categorically say is that with flatlining revenues and the agency numbers contracting rather than expanding, the expansionist days of huge figures and profits that made Sorrell a demigod are coming to an end. 

A couple of years ago it would have taken a hugely serious piece of bad behaviour to get Sorrell sanctioned. Today, the bar has been lowered and Sorrell supporters are telling The Times the whole case is a pretext to get rid of the most expensive FTSE chief executive.