John Wren is CEO of the massive, ominously named advertising and PR conglomerate Omnicom. As part of his contract, whenever he dies, the (publicly traded) company pays his heirs $41 million. This benefits the shareholders by....????

Designer Oscar de la Renta turns 77 today. Rufus Wainwright is 36. Actor Willem Dafoe is turning 54. John Leguizamo and David Spade are both turning 45. Publishing industry heavyweight Ann Godoff is 60. Actor Danny Glover is turning 63. John Wren, the president and CEO of the ad agency Omnicom, is turning 57. Former senator and presidential candidate Bob Dole is turning 86. George Clinton is 68. The Eagles' Don Henley is 62. Film director Paul Schrader is 63. Former football player (and now ESPN personality) Keyshawn Johnson is 37. And Disney star Selena Gomez celebrates her 17th birthday today.

Remember when mega ad agency Omnicom announced it planned to lay off 3,500 employees? That was a full three weeks ago, but there's much better news to report today, at least if you happen to be John Wren, the agency's CEO: He collected another $25 million in Omnicom stock just ten days after announcing the layoffs. How nice to see that in these times of flux, some things stay the same! [AgencySpy]

The International Monetary Fund says the mortgage mess is "the biggest financial crisis in the United States since the Great Depression," which means one thing for John Wren, CEO of ad-holding giant Omnicom: acquisition prices for companies in the advertising industry are low, and it's time to get shopping. Wren told analysts on earnings call yesteday that Omnicom will get more active with is wallet “perhaps now, as the economy worsens." Last December, Wren promised Omnicom would, like rivals Publicis Groupe and WPP Group already had, go on something of an acquisition spree in the interactive space. Didn't happen, Wren said, because Publicis and WPP "aggressively paid, in our opinion, uneconomic prices." Unfortunately for Wren, that means that the only companies left are the ones not worth overpaying for.

You can bet the always-elegant Oscar de la Renta will be especially well-dressed today: He turns 76. Other people celebrating: Actor Willem Dafoe is 53. Comedian John Leguizamo is turning 44, as is David Spade. Crooner Rufus Wainwright is 35. Literary queen Ann Godoff is 59. So is union leader Mike Fishman. Advertising honcho John Wren turns 56. And Danny Glover is 62.

Omnicom CEO John Wren told media in Palm Beach that ad spending is "holding up well enough. We haven't seen erosion in clients." But apparently doing "well enough" isn't enough for Omnicom to pay employees their usual bonuses. Wren said ad agency would cut into bonuses, rather than lay off employees. Layoffs or bonus cuts, it's clear that clients may be keeping their accounts with Omnicom, but they aren't spending as much. That's bad news for online advertising, which Wren said accounts for 10 to 15 percent of Omnicom client spending.

John Wren is the hulking, straight-talking CEO of Omnicom, the world's largest advertising holding company. Omnicom controls agencies like BBDO, DDB, and TBWA.