Publicis Executive Pay: A Raise for Levy; Saatchi's Roberts and Vivaki's Klues See Packages Cut

Vivaki boss Jack Klues and Saatchi & Saatchi chief Kevin Roberts both took compensation cuts in 2008, while their overlord, Publicis maestro Maurice Levy, got a pay rise, according to a French regulatory document.

Roberts got €2.8 million in 2008, down from €3.4 million in 2007. Klues got €1.9 million, down from €2 million. Levy, however, received €3.6 million, up from €3.4 million. (Note: this is in euros, i.e. real money. Multiply the numbers by 1.3 to get the amounts in yankee fun dollars.)

Side note: Could it be that Levy’s pay went up to make sure that he got more than Roberts, as last year it was the Saatchi man who made the most at Publicis? Or is that being too cynical?

Roberts and Klues saw cuts in their base salaries and bonus money, while Levy’s base and bonus stayed the same and went up, respectively.

Here’s the summary table (click to enlarge):

The compensation vaguely reflects Publicis’ performance in 2008, which was mixed. Publicis stock lost 28 percent of its value in 2008, ending the year at €18.39, down from €25.83. Revenue was flat at €4.7 billion; net income was flat at €447 million. Only cash flow went up, by 4 percent.

(Oddly, the document was filed March 13 with the French authorities but only mentioned in a press release yesterday.)

The declines in executive pay are similar to those at Omnicom, where the brass gave up their bonuses after a rough year to make sure their minions got theirs.

• See BNET’s previous coverage of Publicis:
• WPP’s Sorrell Calls Publicis‘ Levy “Callous” in Remarks on Recession
• Alloy, Aegis Top BNET’s Network Efficiency Ranking; WPP Slips
• Omnicom, Publicis Worst Hit in Auto Brand Axings
• Publicis CEO Levy “Loves” Recession; Says It “Excites” Him
• Publicis Q4: $15.5M Army Fraud Settlement Not Noted in Its Numbers
• WPP’s Sorrell Says Publicis’s Levy Is “Hysterically Funny”
• Leo Burnett Lays Off 75
• Publicis’s Levy Calls WPP’s Sorrell a “Little Englishman Trying to Stir Things Up”
• The Scale of the Stupidity at Leo Burnett
• Publicis’s Levy Promises No Job Cuts
• WPP’s Sorrell and Publicis‘ Levy in “Gossip Girl”-Style Rivalry, Sez Bloomberg