17411: On WPP CEO Cindy Rose Raise, Raising, And Reaching.

 

The Times reported WPP CEO Cindy Rose could collect a maximum payout of £14.2 million (roughly $19.1 million USD) if she manages to raise the White holding company’s share price by 50 percent.

 

If successful, Rose would earn more than her predecessor, Mark Read, whose 2024 salary was capped at £8.6 million.

 

It might sound like progress given the gender pay gap issues prevalent at WPP (and Adland overall). However, there are at least two critical points to consider:

 

1. Read took multiple pay cuts in recent years resulting from his failure to even slow WPP’s financial free fall.

 

2. The £14.2 million Rose deal is still dwarfed by former WPP Overlord Sir Martin Sorrell, who once pocketed almost £30 million.

 

In comparison, Omnicom Chairman and CEO John Wren received $21.67 million in 2024; Publicis Groupe CEO Arthur Sadoun has a base salary of roughly $1.25 million with perks and bonuses that could bump total compensation to over $10.7 million; Havas CEO Yannick Bolloré reportedly received roughly $11.4 million in 2024; Former Dentsu CEO Hiroshi Igarashi could’ve received a package exceeding $14 million (no word yet on new CEO Takeshi Sano); Stagwell CEO Mark Penn received $8.4 million in 2023. In short, holding company CEO salaries are all over the global map—and obscenely high.

 

Keep in mind too that WPP has been on a death spiral since at least 2018, making the goal of boosting the current share price by 50 percent downright delusional.

 

In the end, Rose will probably raise a White flag vs raising the share price.

 

WPP boss Cindy Rose could make £14.2m if she gets things right

 

The payout for her predecessor, Mark Read, was capped at £8.6 million for 2024, but she will only get the maximum amount if the shares rise by 50%

 

By Isabella Fish, Retail Editor

 

The new chief executive of WPP is in line for a significantly higher pay reward than her predecessor after the advertising group overhauled its remuneration structure to align UK packages with those in the US. 

 

Cindy Rose could receive a maximum payout of £14.2 million if she lifts the company’s share price by 50 per cent, under a newly proposed remuneration policy set out in the annual report. 

 

By comparison, the maximum potential payout for her predecessor, Mark Read, was £8.6 million for 2024. 

 

The advertising company said it was overhauling its pay structure to address what it described as a “disparity in incentive arrangements” between employees based in the UK and those in the US. In 2023 and 2024, total compensation for about a third of its US-based executive committee members exceeded that of the group chief executive under the previous framework, it said.

 

WPP said it “believes it is appropriate to narrow this disparity and alleviate some of the challenges of pay compression, creating a fair and sustainable framework across the global executive team”.

 

British companies have warned of a transatlantic pay gap and restrictive UK corporate governance frameworks. Unilever, the consumer goods giant, recently said it had missed out on high-calibre American candidates whose existing compensation packages far exceeded what the group could offer under its current structure. 

 

Rose, 60, is an American-British dual national who splits her time between the UK and the US. The former Microsoft executive, who took over at WPP in September, was appointed on a base salary of £1.25 million, with additional incentives paid in cash and shares depending on performance. 

 

Under the proposed policy, her maximum payout includes £5.9 million in bonuses and stock awards to compensate for those she forfeited by leaving Microsoft, as well as salary, benefits, pension, maximum annual bonus, and the combined value of long-term share awards, including a new restricted share plan.

 

The company is hoping to introduce a restricted share award worth 100 per cent of salary for the chief executive and chief financial officer, alongside existing long-term incentive plans. These awards would run over five years, with a three-year vesting period followed by a two-year holding period, and would be subject to performance conditions.

 

A 50 per cent share price increase might seem like a steep target for Rose to hit, but the stock is currently at a particularly low point. The group was ejected from the FTSE 100 in December after its shares fell to a near 30-year low. The stock is down 75 per cent over the past five years and about 63 per cent over the past 12 months.

 

Rose is seeking to stabilise the business through cost savings and having a simpler structure following a series of client losses and a downturn in advertising spending.

 

In February, she set out a plan aimed at cutting £500 million in costs, including removing duplication and combining human resources and back-office functions across parts of the group.

 

According to the company’s latest report, WPP employed 98,655 workers at the end of last year, 6,500 fewer than the year before. WPP declined to comment.

17397: Will Cindy Rose Consider Moving From CEO To Intern?

 

More About Advertising reported independent advertising agency UltraSuperNew offered an internship to WPP CEO Cindy Rose, thinking she could benefit from the experience since she’s never worked at a White advertising agency.

 

Okay, except Rose’s predecessors hardly qualify as bona fide admen.

 

Prior to launching WPP, Sir Martin Sorrell served as Group Finance Director for Saatchi & Saatchi.

 

Prior to succeeding Sorrell, Mark Read served as Global CEO of Wunderman, a dull direct marketing agency that transitioned into a dull digital agency—before being merged with J. Walter Thompson and finally swallowed by VML.

 

Sorrell abandoned WPP as the global enterprise was financially tanking. Ditto Read.

 

So, the White men preceding Rose arguably leveraged their shaky Adland expertise to orchestrate the White holding company’s downfall.

 

Other holding company CEOs have questionable backgrounds.

 

Stagwell Chairman and CEO Mark Penn’s resume includes pollster and political strategist. Penn served as CEO for Burson-Marsteller, a PR firm that WPP is reportedly seeking to dump. Like Rose, he also served as an executive at Microsoft.

 

Havas Chairman and CEO Yannick Bolloré advanced via nepotism.

 

In short, Rose is not more unqualified than any man running a holding company.

 

UltraSuperNew tweaking Rose feels misguided and misogynistic—even though she’ll probably fare worse than the White men who blundered before her.

 

Although Rose’s ultimate failure won’t be a result of her Adland inexperience; but rather, because it’s futile to resuscitate a dead dinosaur.

 

Rose might eventually need a returnship, not an internship.

 

PS: UltraSuperNew has questionable leadership too. An agency born and raised in Harajuku appears to be run by White men and a handful of Japanese executives. In Adland, there’s nothing ultra, super, or new about corporate colonization.

 

Indy agency offers ad newcomer Cindy Rose a helping hand

 

By MAA Staff

 

Independent agency UltraSuperNew has noticed that new WPP CEO Cindy Rose has never actually worked in an ad agency and has offered to help out. (Don’t know why they’re so surprised, these days a working knowledge of — or even fleeting acquaintance with — AI is much more desirable.)

 

Anyway, agency co-founder Marc Wesseling is offering Rose (who spent her career at Disney, Vodafone and, latterly, Microsoft) an internship.

 

He says: “We read about Cindy’s new strategy for WPP with great interest and great sympathy. (She) has had a remarkable career in tech, media and telecommunications. She is clearly a brilliant executive. But we noticed that she has never actually worked inside an advertising agency. Not a big one. Not a small one. Not any one. And we think that might be a problem when you’re running one of the biggest collections of advertising agencies in the world.”

 

Interns at UltraSuperNew are expected to contribute from day one, from making coffee to sitting in on client calls. Sadly, they’re unpaid but with offices in Tokyo, Singapore and Amsterdam there are compensations.

17256: All The Fake News That’s Fit To Print.

 

Adweek placed its contradictory content side-by-side, announcing Havas is and isn’t pursuing a partnership with WPP.

 

Perhaps the trade publication is appealing to a wide audience, realizing Adland denizens either do or don’t give a shit about the scenario.

17042: How Nepotism Pays Off.

 

Mediapsssst reported Havas CEO Yannick Bolloré pocketed a significant compensation bump in 2024, despite the White holding company’s organic revenue decline.

 

Bolloré’s response was probably, “Thanks, Dad.”

 

Havas CEO Bollore’s Compensation Soared 2.7 Times In 2024

 

By Richard Whitman

 

Havas Group didn’t grow last year—its 2024 organic revenue decline was 0.8%—but CEO Yannick Bollore’s compensation grew by a lot. 

 

According to the company’s recently issued annual report Bollore’s total compensation last year was nearly 10 million euros (about $11.4 million). That included a 1.5 million base salary, long and short-term incentive bonuses and other benefits. 

 

By comparison, in 2023 Bollore’s total compensation was about 3.7 million euros. The company grew 4.4% that year and has projected it will grow 2%-plus in 2025. 

 

WPP lost ground last year as well with an organic decline of 1%. CEO Mark Read took a 15% cut in total compensation.

 

Bollore’s pay is just a small portion of the value he derives from Havas. He owns 3% of company shares—making him one of the largest single shareholders—and other Bollore entities own an additional 31.05 of company shares. 

 

The company returned to the public markets late last after being a subsidiary of Vivendi since 2017. Shares are down 22% on the Euronext Amsterdam stock exchange since trading began on December 16.  

 

At its annual meeting in May the firm will propose a 1-for-10 reverse stock split as part of a plan to boost the stock price. It also plans to buy back up to 10% of outstanding shares over the next 18 months and offer a dividend (0.08 euro per share).

16706: Job Interviews Are Family Affairs.

 

According to the image depicted above, FOX News reported that employers say 19% of recent college graduates have brought a parent to their job interview. Havas CEO Yannick Bolloré sees nothing wrong with that.

 

16632: Delayed WTF 59—Havas CEO Yannick Bolloré On AI, DEIBA+, And BS.

 

MultiCultClassics is often occupied with real work. As a result, a handful of events occur without the expected blog commentary. This limited series—Delayed WTF—seeks to make belated amends for the absence of malice.

 

The following Cannes interview is about a year old—and a companion to the WPP CEO Mark Read performative PR covering the same AI and DEIBA+ topics—yet warrants color commentary too.

 

Havas CEO Yannick Bolloré—poster child for nepotism in Adland—delivers another monologue that feels AI-generated and Chief Diversity Officer-delegated.

 

Bolloré’s DEIBA+ dedication is declared via heat shields advocating for girls with autism and people with disabilities, worthy causes that represent divertsity vs diversity—and Eurocentric divertsity to boot.

 

Contrary to their canned contentions, the CEOs of holding companies—especially those like Read and Bolloré, who are White male multimillionaires leading lives of extraordinary privilege—might be least capable of grasping the imperatives for authentic diversity. Hell, their true understanding of AI is probably equally uniformed.

 

The result is a mindless merger of corporate cluelessness and cultural cluelessness, rivalling the clumsy combinations of White advertising agencies routinely orchestrated by White holding company leaders.

 

Holding company chiefs on AI and inclusion: Yannick Bolloré

 

In the first in a series of interviews with the holding company chiefs ahead of Cannes, Havas’ Yannick Bolloré answers questions about the role of both in his business

 

By Yannick Bolloré

 

With the Cannes Lions festival about to celebrate its seventieth anniversary, and with pressure from both within and outside holding companies for demonstrable change, we asked the holding company chiefs to talk about the role of diversity — and how AI could impact upon it.

 

As CEO of Havas, what lessons have you learned about the role of diversity in the success of your business, and the work you do for your clients?

 

Diversity is paramount to us at Havas, as our business relies on individual talent, vision, and creativity. We would not even exist without all the different backgrounds, cultures, and languages that fill our offices around the world, and work together to achieve better outcomes than they would alone.

 

We believe it is crucial to include a diversity of voices within our agencies, leveraging different perspectives to constantly push us forward. That is why we are committed to building an inclusive culture where everybody feels they belong, can be themselves and thrive. We have made it a priority to increase the diversity of our teams and ensure that inclusive thinking is at every stage of the strategy ideation process so that perspectives are integrated from the beginning to the end, to inform how the work gets created.

 

We also help brands better engage with their communities through authentic messages and experiences, by using the power of our creative ideas to drive meaningful change in the world we live in. Our recent campaigns “Me, my autism and I” for Vanish, which aims at giving a voice to young girls with autism, and “Paris Anne de Gaulle airport”, raising the visibility of disability in our society, are great examples of this ambition.

 

Critics say that AI is already reinforcing and exacerbating many challenges already faced by society, such as bias, discrimination and misinformation. How do you think this is going to impact the use of AI in advertising and marketing?

 

The development of generative AI is a revolution and there is no doubt that AI will play an increasingly important role in our industry. While exploring its fast-growing potential and using it as a source of inspiration and acceleration for all our areas of expertise, it is crucial for us to be very cautious about its legal implications, as well as its limitations in terms of inconsistencies, inaccuracies, and inherent biases.

 

It is our collective role and responsibility to focus on how AI can assist us and our creative minds in the development of our work, not the other way around, and continue making a meaningful difference to society as a whole.

16478: Breaking Up The Family Empire…?

Adweek reported on the possibilities posed by a sale of Havas and other enterprises in the Vivendi outhouse empire, including critical commentary on the currently connected companies.

 

“[Havas] is also a relatively unprofitable, complicated and unwieldy part of the group. They are undersize in the U.S. and in media,” according to an anonymous former Havas executive. “And, despite what the release says, they have been very reluctant to make big acquisitions—Havas and [Vivendi] will never get scale without that.”

 

Hmmm. The critic clearly does not have blood ties to the Bolloré Billionaire Boys Club.

 

An Independent Havas Could Lead to Structural Changes and Acquisitions

 

Owner Vivendi will consider spinning off the agency network to drive growth

 

By Stephen Lepitak

 

French media company Vivendi’s announcement that it’s exploring a sale of Havas—as well as sister company Canal+ Group and stakes in publisher Lagardère and Telecom Italia—could unlock more value for the agency, making it attractive to potential buyers, sources tell Adweek.

 

The potential sale follows the partial sale of record label Universal Music Group (UMG) in 2020, when 10% was acquired by a consortium led by Chinese media company Tencent. Since the listing of UMG, Vivendi has seen a substantially reduced valuation, meaning growth for its subsidiary companies has been limited.

 

“In 2020, Havas was a mere 15% of Vivendi’s revenues, with UMG and Canal+ dominating the numbers and holding center stage,” said Green Square partner Barry Dudley. “When Universal was spun out in 2021, Havas shifted toward the limelight at just under 30% of revenues. If the next step is a stock exchange listing all to itself, Havas will suddenly be putting on its own show.”

 

In the six years since Vivendi acquired the remaining 59.2% stake in the advertising agency held by the Bolloré Group, the ad industry has gone through a fairly tumultuous period of change, as client demand for digital transformation strategies and the advancement of artificial intelligence have disrupted the commercial creative sector.

 

Unlocking value for future owners

 

Havas is the fifth-largest communications agency network globally and has been led by chairman and chief executive Yannick Bolloré for the last decade. He also serves as chairman of the board at Vivendi.

 

“If it is to unlock the additional value that is being held back within Vivendi, it is going to need to be quickly communicating a very clear and purposeful strategy,” Dudley explained.

 

Adweek understands that on Friday, a meeting was held with leadership within Havas to reassure them over concerns that arose from the surprise company announcement.

 

Further speculation has indicated that Havas could become a takeover target to merge with a rival agency network group, or potentially a consultancy such as Deloitte or Accenture looking to improve its creative and media credentials.

 

According to Vivendi’s third-quarter results, released in October, Havas’ net revenue was $714 million (654 million euros), with organic growth year-over-year of 4.5%. That followed second-quarter organic growth of 6.3%.

 

“[Havas] is also a relatively unprofitable, complicated and unwieldy part of the group. They are undersize in the U.S. and in media,” said one former Havas executive who requested anonymity. “And, despite what the release says, they have been very reluctant to make big acquisitions—Havas and [Vivendi] will never get scale without that.”

 

Ownership, acquisitions and agency structure

 

It is thought that even with going public, the Bolloré family would continue to run the businesses outside of Vivendi’s direct ownership.Dudley explained that the agency network’s strength was its creative business with Havas owning 148 agencies worldwide, including agency network BETC. These are based across its 73 “villages.”

 

This could lead to Havas following the WPP strategy of consolidating agencies to simplify the structure for clients.

 

Former Dentsu International and WPP executive Euan Jarvie, who now acts as chairman, investor and adviser for companies, believes that the major holding companies still have transformational challenges in their structures with the rise of consultancies entering the ad market, making driving scale even tougher.

 

“The next few years will [see] a rise of more indies and much more of a struggle for large corporates in and outside the ad market,” Jarvie said. “There is still lots of money in the markets for equity of capital investors to get into this space.

 

“All industries disrupt themselves generationally or evolutionary from time to time,” Jarvie added. “Advertising is doing both, so now might be a great time for Vivendi to consolidate and get value back in from some of its assets.”

 

Dudley added that the business will already be looking for its next high-profile acquisition deal following that of creative agency Uncommon earlier this year, with an eye on either Asia or the Americas.

 

“One thing is for sure: Doing deals is going to be fundamental in the mid-term,” Dudley said.

16474: Minding The Family Business…

MediaPost published commentary on the possibility that Vivendi, Havas, and Bolloré Group might split into three separate public companies. It will probably happen once Vincent Bolloré decides which of his kids can be anointed to run each company. There are undoubtedly heated discussions happening over the Bolloré dinner table.

 

Will Havas Become A Separate Public Company Again?

 

By Richard Whitman, Columnist

 

Entertainment conglomerate Vivendi, which owns Havas Group and is controlled by France’s Bollore Group is considering a plan to split into three separate public companies.

 

The rationale, according to the firm is that as a single conglomerate its shares are trading at a “discount,” limiting its ability to execute its desired growth strategy. Splitting into the three companies would maximize the value of the different entities, the firm believes.

 

The firm spun off Universal Music Group in 2021. Now the board has been authorized to explore a plan to split into three companies.

 

If the plan is approved it would once again make ad holding company Havas Group an independent publicly traded firm, which it had been until Vivendi acquired it in 2017.

 

Yannick Bollore is CEO of Havas and Chairman of Vivendi’s Supervisory Board. His father Vincent oversees Bollore Group.

 

In addition to Havas, media company Canal+ would be spun off into its own unit as would a third “investment company” whose initial assets would include book publisher Lagardère. It would have a portfolio of companies in media, entertainment and other culturally focused companies.

 

Vivendi said it would work with banks and other advisors to assess the feasibility of the proposed split including the tax consequences to shareholders. No timetable was issued for completing the assessment, but an update will be provided in “due course.”