Martin Sorrell has claimed that WPP shareholders are growing increasingly accepting of his multi-million pound executive pay package, despite facing opposition from more than a fifth of voters at the advertising company's annual general meeting (AGM) on Wednesday.
A total of 21.3 percent of shareholders voted against Sorrell's £48 million ($62 million) pay package when they met in London on Wednesday; 20.79 percent voted for the payment, while 0.5 percent chose to abstain.
Though significant, the rejection level was down dramatically from more than one third - 34 percent - last year. In 2012, almost 60 percent of investors rejected his pay packet.
"If you look at the history, it's an improving trend," Sorrell, chief executive of WPP, told CNBC Wednesday, shortly after the AGM.
"Opinions have changed," he added.
The British multinational advertising agency has revised down Sorrell's pay package in recent years. This year's sum is 32 percent lower than the £70.4 million he received in 2015, which was one of the biggest pay deals in U.K. corporate history.
Sorrell maintained that the pay packages had gained prior support from the majority of shareholders.
"Both plans that were approved by 80 percent of the shareholders several years back. This has all gone through shareholders."