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By Kate Holton
LONDON, June 8 (Reuters) - A third of investors in WPP refused to back a 70 million-pound ($102 million) paypackage for Chief Executive Martin Sorrell on Wednesday,rebelling over one of the biggest payouts in British history ata fractious annual meeting.
One of the best known businessmen in Britain, Sorrell builtthe advertising group WPP from a two-man operation in a Londonoffice in 1985 to one that now dominates the industry witharound 194,000 staff in 112 countries.
He says that during his 30 years in charge he has investedhis own money in the firm and reinvested nearly all his incometo buy WPP stock, meaning all his wealth and interests are tiedup in the future of the company.
"If building a company from scratch to a marketcapitalisation of 20 billion with 194,000 people in 100-oddcountries is the wrong thing to do? Mea culpa," he toldreporters after the meeting, held in a London theatre.
"(I am not) someone who has ducked in and ducked out overtwo or three or four years. This ties everything I have to thefuture success of the company."
WPP is the biggest advertising firm in the world, offeringbranding, media planning, market research and consultancy fromCanada to China and Belgium to Brazil, with clients including Ford, Unilever, L'Oreal and Tesco.
Sorrell has also become one of the most prominentbusinessmen in Britain, regularly appearing on television tocomment on everything from political developments in emergingmarkets to national politics and the EU referendum.
Living between New York and London, he travels constantly,flying on commercial services and rarely spending more than aweek in one location. He owns 21 million WPP shares or 1.6percent of the firm.
WPP's shares closed up 0.1 percent at 1,600 pence onWednesday, valuing the company at 20.65 billion pounds.
While Sorrell received plaudits at the meeting for steeringWPP ahead of rivals, several investors said they were "highlyuncomfortable" or "uneasy" with the amount he was paid. The UK's Railways Pension Scheme said it risked "reputational damage".
Investors also had questions over the firm's successionplanning. WPP has recently said it is working to identifycandidates to replace Sorrell for whenever he leaves andChairman Roberto Quarta said the board routinely discussedpotential internal and external execs should anything happen tothe firm's founder.
The WPP vote comes amid a resurgence in investor activism,with BP shareholders voting in April against ChiefExecutive Bob Dudley's $20 million pay deal for 2015 after thecompany made a record annual loss.
At 70 million pounds, Sorrell's 2015 pay package is one ofthe biggest ever payouts for the head of a FTSE 100 index company. The average pay for CEOs of a company in theblue-chip index was 5.23 million pounds last year.
Excluding abstentions 33.5 pct of investors voted againstSorrell's remuneration deal in the non-binding vote.
The bulk of Sorrell's pay package for 2015 came from along-term scheme called Leap which was approved by more than 80percent of shareholders at the time. Since its introduction thefirm's shareprice has doubled.
It has since been modified and will face a binding vote nextyear. Under the firm's new scheme Sorrell's pay is set to fall.
"We acknowledge Sir Martin's talent but this year's leap isa step too far," one shareholder said.
Asset manager Hermes, a WPP shareholder, said it votedagainst the remuneration package in part because of "historicconcerns about board composition and the remunerationcommittee's apparent lack of vigour and stress-testing."
"We are highly uncomfortable with the 2015 quantum," arepresentative told the meeting.
WPP said ahead of the meeting on Wednesday that during thefirst four months of 2016 its net sales, profits and revenueswere "well above budget" and up on last year. (Editing by Keith Weir, Greg Mahlich)
