WPP CEO Mark Read took a nearly 15% cut in pay last year for failing to achieve targeted financial goals for the period, according to WPP’s annual report for 2024 which was issued this week. 

According to the report, Read’s total compensation last year was slightly over 3.8 million GBP (approximately $4.9 million), versus just under 4.5 million GBP in 2023. 

If the company had met its financial targets for the year, Read would have received close to 5.4 million GBP and up to a maximum of just over 8.5 million GBP if the targets had been exceeded by certain levels. 

As Read noted in his CEO’s letter in the annual report, WPP’s 2024 from a financial standpoint was “disappointing.”  

The firm reported last month that 2024 net organic revenue declined 1%, with a fourth-quarter shortfall of 4.2%. The initial outlook for 2025: an organic decline of 2% albeit with some improvement in the second half. The organic figures exclude M&A and currency impact. 

“Despite the disappointing end to 2024 and the challenging outlook, we continue to be confident in our medium-term targets,” Read wrote. “We believe our strategy will produce stronger growth and greater value for our shareholders.” 

A big part of that strategy is continuing to build out the firm’s AI-driven operating system WPP Open, which Read said was “central to our biggest pitch successes in 2024,” including Amazon, Unilever and Johnson & Johnson. The firm invested nearly $325 million in the system last year and will invest an additional $390 million in 2025. 

The company had a higher win rate last year in pitches where Open was front and center, and “in 2025 we aim to make sure there are no pitches without it,” Read stated. 

Another top priority for 2025, Read said, is “to get GroupM in good shape for stronger growth, and to win more pitches through our increasingly integrated proposition to clients.” 

He noted that GroupM global CEO Brian Lesser, who rejoined the firm last September, has been busy implementing a plan to improve competitiveness at the media unit “with a particular focus on the US.” 

“Leveraging the full benefit of AI, data and technology at GroupM is key to closing the growth gap with our best-performing peers,” Read said. “Further investment in WPP Open’s Media Studio and in next generation media products will strengthen existing client relationships and drive new business performance.”