WPP said the 2004 Leadership Equity Acquisition Plan had been passed with 79.8% of the votes in favour of the resolution at today's extraordinary general meeting.
After the vote Sir Martin addressed shareholders' concerns over the plan, saying: "Clearly the atmosphere has changed. There has been a media recession and there have been companies on both sides of the Atlantic that have had inexcusable behaviour so the climate is different."
There had been concerns among major shareholders over the plan, which will see 拢112.5m being paid to WPP's 19 top executives, depending how the company performs compared with peers such as Omnicom Group and Interpublic Group. The Association of British Insurers had been moved to issue a "red top" warning over the plan, but later changed this to amber when WPP moved to assure investors.
WPP had been criticised for introducing the plan too quickly and without adequate dialogue with investors but the company hit back at the claims, saying that it had written to shareholders and that it had held discussions with major institutional share owners.
In a retreat from its original plan, WPP said that it would not weight the companies, including Omnicom, Interpublic Group and Publicis Groupe, with which it will compare itself to determine its success and the size of the executive bonuses.
Sir Martin has already bowed to shareholder pressure about his three-year contract with the advertising giant, which is now to be shortened.
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