- Andrew McMains

NEW YORK Omnicom Group CEO John Wren (pictured) received total compensation of $2.95 million last year, including $1 million in salary, according to the company's annual proxy statement.

The total compensation figure, which also includes stock, a bonus and perquisites, declined 72 percent from $10.39 million in 2007, though Wren's salary remained the same from year to year, the proxy noted.

Other top executives at the holding company and its major agencies also saw their compensation decline in 2008, when Omnicom's stock lost 44 percent of its value amid the recession. The stock opened Jan. 2, 2008 at $47.96 a share and closed Dec. 31 at $26.74 a share, according to Yahoo Finance. And in December, Omnicom moved to reduce its 70,000 worldwide headcount by nearly 5 percent.

DDB worldwide CEO Chuck Brymer and BBDO worldwide CEO Andrew Robertson earned $1.87 million and $1.85 million in compensation, respectively, down from $3.86 million and $4.57 million, respectively, in 2007, per the proxy. Their salaries, however, remained constant: Brymer's stayed at $850,000 and Robertson's at $900,000.

Similarly, Omnicom CFO Randall Weisenburger's 2008 compensation declined to $2.77 million (from $8.14 million in '07) and Tom Harrison, CEO of Omnicom's Diversified Agency Services division, saw his compensation cut in half to $2.28 million (from $4.87 million), according to the proxy. The document's summary compensation table only included five executives and TBWA worldwide CEO Tom Carroll was not among them. An Omnicom representative had no comment on the compensation information.

The proxy, also known as a 14A form, was filed last week with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission. In addition to reporting executive compensation, the document provides an agenda for Omnicom's annual shareholders' meeting, which this year will take place May 19 at the Washington, D.C., office of Omnicom public relations agency Ketchum.