Sir Martin Sorrell, chief executive and founder of advertising giant WPP, picked up more than £3 million in pay, annual bonus and perks last year plus another £18 million of shares in his long-term bonus package.

The award of 2.95 million shares covers Sorrell's long-term incentive package for 2004 to 2007. He has already said that he will not actually collect the shares until 2011.

Sorrell, who is threatening to move WPP's tax headquarters offshore and has just launched a £948 million bid for market research group Taylor Nelson Sofres, saw his basic pay jump from £832,000 to just over £1 million in 2007.

He was paid a short-term bonus of £1.65 million and another £885,000 under an employee share award which he will collect in two years time. In 2006, he received little increase in his pay package but last year it went up by 8.5%.

But as usual, the bulk of Sorrell's rewards come in his long-term executive award plan (LEAP), where he has been putting his money since 2004. Sorrell bought shares, and is then awarded free shares (in the latest case, 2.6 for every one he bought) depending on performance. The 2.95 million shares he got under this scheme, which were awarded earlier this year, are worth £18.2 million.

Sorrell reacted with disbelief to TNS's rejection of his approach at the weekend. The firm, which is best-known for its monthly survey of retailers' market share, prefers its own friendly merger with German research firm GfK.

But news of WPP's intervention sent TNS shares soaring 251/4p to 2401/4p. That pushed the group's stock market value up to £990 million.

Sorrell said: "We are surprised and disappointed that the board of TNS has rejected our offer proposal within 24 hours of receiving it."

He indicated that he would now take his bid direct to shareholders, saying: "We urge TNS shareholders to urge the board to engage with us, rather than simply persisting on an exclusive basis with a nil-premium merger arrangement with GfK.