Angry WPP shareholders rebelled on Wednesday at an annual meeting dominated by differences over the departure of the advertising firm's former CEO Martin Sorrell. The most famous advertising executive in the world quit the marketing giant he built from scratch in April following an allegation of personal misconduct, prompting concerns among some investors over the handling of his departure. This was reflected in voting at the AGM, where nearly 30% of WPP shareholders opposed its executive pay proposal. This included share awards to Sorrell which could be worth £20-million, although they are expected to be well below that due to WPP's recent underperformance. Almost 17% of investors also declined to back the re-election of its chairman Roberto Quarta, under whose watch Sorrell left with the share awards and without a noncompete clause. The departure of one of Britain's best-known businessmen rekindled arguments that have long dogged WPP meetings - that it paid him too much and did no...

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