Sir Martin Sorrell verus the 'shareholder spring'

Sir Martin Sorrell, CEO of advertising giant WPP, has railed on ungrateful investors after suffering the indignity of a shareholder rebellion over his pay. Is he losing the plot?

"When investors' pitchforks come out over pay, most chief executives hide behind the remuneration committee," says the Financial Times. Not Sir Martin Sorrell. Bruised by reports that shareholders wanted to give him a "bloody nose" over his pay at this week's annual general meeting in Dublin, the WPP chief has come out fighting.

This outbreak of "bloody-mindedness" is classic Sorrell; a man who "has fought his way to the top of the advertising world, despite snooty opposition from many in the creative world who dismissed him as a bean-counter". Yet on this issue, he's beginning to lose the plot, says The Guardian. "There is raw hurt and anger" at the "investor ingrates" lined up against him (see below). He's "not yet King Lear raging at pernicious daughters", but he's "veering in that direction".

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