Sorrell's pay floats above £2m

WPP chief executive Sir Martin Sorrell has gone back above the £2m pay barrier after picking up a bumper bonus in a year he finally led the advertising giant 'out of the bath'.

Sorrell is also sitting on more than £90m of shares following the award of 3.3m under the group incentive scheme due to be replaced by a new plan voted through two months ago.

Sorrell, who has built WPP into the world's third-largest advertising company in the past 15 years, earned a basic salary of £840,000 and a bonus of £1.26m for 2003.

With a £25,000 fee for other benefits, his total pay soared by 33% to £2.13m from £1.59m.

Sorrell made headlines when he likened the recovery in the advertising market to a bath-shaped or long and shallow curve. WPP's profits rose 18% to £473m last year.