Philip Green
Encyclopedia
Sir Philip Green is a British
businessman. Green was born into a Jewish family in 1952, beginning as a businessman at the age of 15. The first and last quoted company Green took lead of was "Amber Day", from which he stepped down as CEO and Chairman in 1992. Since then he has had links to a range of British companies; including a hostile bid for Marks and Spencer and the management of the Arcadia Group, both alongside or supporting his wife. He has been involved in a range of controversies related to both his personal and business life.
, a middle-class enclave in north London, and at the age of nine he was sent to the now-closed Jewish boarding school Carmel College in Oxfordshire
. When his father died of a heart attack, Philip was in line to inherit the family business at the age of twelve. After leaving boarding school at 15, he worked for a shoe importer before travelling to the US, Europe and the Far East. It was on his return that he set up his first business with a £20,000 loan, importing jeans from the Far East to sell on to retailers in London.
In 1979, Green bought up the entire stock of ten designer label clothes sellers who had gone into receivership for extremely low prices. He then had the newly bought clothes sent to the dry cleaners, got them put on hangers, wrapped them in polythene to make them look new, and then bought a place to sell them to the public.
(a sports shoe millionaire and one of the richest men in Scotland) and the Barclay brothers
, to help fund his entrepreneurship.
which at the time had about 12 branches trading under the Owen Owen and Lewis's
brand names. During his ownership, most of these department stores were sold to other operators including Debenhams
and Allders
or were closed leaving only the Liverpool branch trading as Lewis's. In 2004 this remaining store was sold off.
In 1995 he linked with Tom Hunter to buy sports retailer Olympus as part of a merger. The price was £1, plus the assumption of £30 million in debt. Green and his partners sold the company three years later to JJB Sports
for £550 million. Green walked away £73 million richer. That encouraged the Barclay brothers to back him in the £538m acquisition of the Sears retail chain (a different Sears from Sears, Roebuck and Company
) in 1999. The subsequent disposal programme (including selling some of the assets, ironically, to Arcadia) raised £729m and confirmed his reputation as a man who could deliver within the retail sector.
to make a £9-billion hostile bid for Marks and Spencer (M&S). However, the leaking of the bid forced up M&S's share price. The board of M&S were also hostile to the bid and sought to block it. Eventually Green gave up and helped his wife purchase the ailing retail chain British Home Stores for £200 million. His takeover came when everyone else had dismissed the company as a failing brand and unfixable. Green put up £50 million of his own money and borrowed another £150 million to seal the deal. Green completely turned the company around and the chain is now thought to be worth over £1.2 billion. Since Green took over, profits have tripled to over £200 million per year.
Next, Green assisted Tina Green
in the purchase the Arcadia Group
, which owns well-known High Street chains such as Burton
, Dorothy Perkins
, Evans
, Miss Selfridge, Outfit, Topshop
/Topman
and Wallis
in 2002. The company was briefly owned by Green but sold to Tina Green
within 24 hours, with Philip acting as CEO.
The Arcadia Group
has been profitable, and currently has pre-tax profits of around £380 million per year.
Recently he had added the Etam UK
chain to the group. Green paid £850 million, and repaid the £808 million he had borrowed to finance the deal in two years, a move that stunned commentators when it was announced.
When The Guardian
newspaper investigated a proposed takeover of Safeway
in 2003, Green responded to queries about Arcadia's accounts by insulting and swearing at the journalists.
On 20 October 2005 Green awarded Arcadia shareholders a £1.3-billion dividend.
. Green was knighted
on 17 June 2006.
In May 2007 after the disappearance of Madeleine McCann
in Portugal
, Green donated £250,000 as a monetary reward for any useful public information. He also provided the McCanns with the use of his private jet to allow them to fly to Rome
for a Papal visit
. Green intends to increase the reward money to £1 million for the safe return of Madeleine.
He was reportedly the BBC's first choice to front the UK franchise of The Apprentice; however during that period in 2004, he was too busy with Arcadia's attempted takeover of Marks and Spencer.
n wife and owner of Arcadia Tina Green
and their children Chloe and Brandon in an apartment in Monaco
.
Green counts as his friends, David and Simon Reuben
, Lord Hanson, Philip Colbert
, Tom Hunter
, Mohamed Al-Fayed
of Harrods
, Bill Kenwright
, David Goodman
, Simon Cowell
, Michael Winner
and the Indian tycoon Vijay Mallya
.
Among Green's more extravagant items are a 208 ft/£32 million Benetti
yacht Lionheart and a £20 million Gulfstream G550
private jet . For his birthday, his wife bought him a solid gold Monopoly
set, featuring his very own acquisitions.
Green has been described as "flash". For his son's Bar Mitzvah in 2005, he spent £4 million on a three-day event for over 200 friends and family in the French Riviera
. He also hired Andrea Bocelli
and Destiny's Child
to perform. For his 50th birthday he flew 200 guests in a chartered Airbus A300 to a hotel in Cyprus
for a three-day toga party, where they were serenaded by Tom Jones
and Rod Stewart
, who was reportedly paid £750,000 for a 45-minute set. For his 55th birthday he flew 100 guests 8,500 miles in two private jets from London Stansted Airport
. They arrived at the exclusive Maldives
resort of Four Seasons: Landaagiraavaru, an eco-spa on a private Indian Ocean
island.
His business hero is the late Sir Charles Clore
, who built the Sears Plc UK retail empire from next to nothing in the 1950s and 1960s.
In 1991 he helped Terry Venables raise the last £500,000 needed to purchase shares in the club.
He was also involved in the transfers of Rio Ferdinand
from Leeds United and Louis Saha
from Fulham to Manchester United.
He is heavily involved with Everton Football Club due to his friendship with chairman Bill Kenwright, but has no intention of formally investing in the club. He arranged for another friend, Planet Hollywood's owner Robert Earle
to purchase shares from former director Paul Gregg
during a struggle for control of Everton in 2004. He offers business advice to the club alongside Tesco
CEO Terry Leahy
and helps negotiates player transfer fees with agents.
Sir Phillip Green is also involved with Watford due to his friendship with Watford chairman L. Bassini. He is due to help them redevelop Vicarage Road Stadium.
, George Osborne
and the Conservative Party
, stating that "[Cameron and Osborne] understand what needs to be done. They get it."
, David Cameron
, to carry out a review of government spending and procurement. Green's summary report, Efficiency Review by Sir Philip Green, published in October 2010, alleged significant failings in government procurement processes, however it has been generally dismissed by the procurement profession as being ill-researched and of little real worth.
in November 2010 for his history of corporate tax avoidance. The group targeted Green specifically as a Government advisor.
On 4 December 2010 campaigners staged a sit-in at Green's flagship London Oxford Street
Topshop
store, and in Brighton a few glued themselves to the branch windows, while other high streets in towns and cities across Britain saw similar protests in a day of action against the tax arrangements of rich individuals and big businesses.
Green, the Arcadia retail group tycoon, became the focus of anger over the programme of government cuts that campaigners said could be avoided if tax dodging was stamped out, bringing in some £25bn a year to the public purse and reducing the national debt.
Taveta Investments, the company used to acquire Arcadia in 2002, is in the name of Green's wife, Tina Green
, a Monaco resident, avoiding £285 million in tax that would be payable if a UK resident owned the company. When Green paid his family £1.2bn in 2005, it was paid for by a loan taken out by Arcadia, cutting Arcadia's corporation tax as interest charges on the loan were offset against profits.
. In 2005, he declared a dividend in Arcadia, in which he had a holding of 92% of the shares. This meant he earned £1.2 billion in a single year. Green defended himself by saying, "So far as I'm concerned we are in the risk business. We risk our reputation and our money when we buy things. We don't have a guarantee on the back we can get a refund when we haven't got it right."
groups such as Labour Behind the Label
, No Sweat and the student activist network People & Planet
. Sir Philip Green denied Sunday Times allegations in 2007 that his firm used overseas sweatshop
s where workers in Mauritius were paid pitiful wages. In 2010, Sir Philip was again accused, this time by Channel 4's Dispatches programme of still using sweatshops - in Britain, where workers were paid less than half the legal minimum wage
.
, protesters occupied the flagship Oxford Street branch of Topshop, to highlight Green's involvement in the government spending cuts. They chanted "Philip Green's taxation could pay for education". Similar protests and occupations were set up at several stores owned by Mr. Green, including Manchester, Glasgow, Edinburgh, Liverpool, Leicester, York, Bristol, Portsmouth, Southampton, Newcastle and Cambridge. Arcadia shops came under major attacks during the TUC March for the Alternative demonstration
on 26 March 2011.
United Kingdom
The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern IrelandIn the United Kingdom and Dependencies, other languages have been officially recognised as legitimate autochthonous languages under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages...
businessman. Green was born into a Jewish family in 1952, beginning as a businessman at the age of 15. The first and last quoted company Green took lead of was "Amber Day", from which he stepped down as CEO and Chairman in 1992. Since then he has had links to a range of British companies; including a hostile bid for Marks and Spencer and the management of the Arcadia Group, both alongside or supporting his wife. He has been involved in a range of controversies related to both his personal and business life.
Biography
Philip Green was born into a Jewish family on 15 March 1952 in Croydon, in South London, and has a sister, Elizabeth, five years his senior. His family moved to Hampstead Garden SuburbHampstead Garden Suburb
-Notable Residents :*Theo Adams*Martin Bell*Sir Victor Blank*Katie Boyle*Constantine, the last King of Greece*Greg Davies*Richard & Judy Finnigan*David Matthews*Michael Ridpath*Claudia Roden*Jonathan Ross*Sir Donald Sinden*Marc Sinden...
, a middle-class enclave in north London, and at the age of nine he was sent to the now-closed Jewish boarding school Carmel College in Oxfordshire
Oxfordshire
Oxfordshire is a county in the South East region of England, bordering on Warwickshire and Northamptonshire , Buckinghamshire , Berkshire , Wiltshire and Gloucestershire ....
. When his father died of a heart attack, Philip was in line to inherit the family business at the age of twelve. After leaving boarding school at 15, he worked for a shoe importer before travelling to the US, Europe and the Far East. It was on his return that he set up his first business with a £20,000 loan, importing jeans from the Far East to sell on to retailers in London.
In 1979, Green bought up the entire stock of ten designer label clothes sellers who had gone into receivership for extremely low prices. He then had the newly bought clothes sent to the dry cleaners, got them put on hangers, wrapped them in polythene to make them look new, and then bought a place to sell them to the public.
Amber Day
In 1988, he became Chairman and Chief Executive of a quoted company called "Amber Day", a discount retailer. The shares performed well, but then suffered a series of profit downgrades and in 1992 he resigned when the company failed to meet its profit forecast. He has not led a quoted company since, instead working with other entrepreneurs, including Tom HunterTom Hunter
Sir Thomas Blane Hunter is a Scottish businessman, entrepreneur, and philanthropist.In April 2007, Hunter was reported in the Sunday Times Rich List as the first ever home-grown billionaire in Scotland, with an estimated wealth of £1.05 billion...
(a sports shoe millionaire and one of the richest men in Scotland) and the Barclay brothers
David and Frederick Barclay
Sir David Rowat Barclay and Sir Frederick Hugh Barclay are British businessmen. The identical twin brothers have very substantial business interests primarily in media, retail and property. The Sunday Times Rich List of 2007 estimated their wealth at £1.8 billion...
, to help fund his entrepreneurship.
1990s
In the early 1990s Green bought the department store chain Owen OwenOwen Owen
Owen Owen was a Liverpool-based operator of department stores in the United Kingdom.- The man :Owen Owen was born in October 1847 and died on Easter Sunday in 1910 at the age of 62....
which at the time had about 12 branches trading under the Owen Owen and Lewis's
Lewis's
Lewis's was a large department store in Liverpool city centre. It was formerly the flagship of a chain of department stores under the Lewis's name, that operated from 1856 to 1991, when the company went into administration. Several stores in the chain were bought by the company Owen Owen and...
brand names. During his ownership, most of these department stores were sold to other operators including Debenhams
Debenhams
Debenhams plc is a British retailer operating under a department store format in the UK, Ireland and Denmark, and franchise stores in other countries. The Company was founded in the eighteenth century as a single store in London and has now grown to around 160 shops...
and Allders
Allders
Allders is an independent department store in Croydon, established by Joshua Allder in 1862. It is the fourth-largest department store in the United Kingdom.The Croydon store was the flagship of a large chain of department stores in the UK...
or were closed leaving only the Liverpool branch trading as Lewis's. In 2004 this remaining store was sold off.
In 1995 he linked with Tom Hunter to buy sports retailer Olympus as part of a merger. The price was £1, plus the assumption of £30 million in debt. Green and his partners sold the company three years later to JJB Sports
JJB Sports
JJB Sports plc is a United Kingdom sports retailer. It currently operates 251 stores in the UK and Ireland.- History :The sportshop chain was founded in 1971, when ex-footballer Dave Whelan acquired a single sports shop in Wigan. The original store was established by JJ Broughton in the early...
for £550 million. Green walked away £73 million richer. That encouraged the Barclay brothers to back him in the £538m acquisition of the Sears retail chain (a different Sears from Sears, Roebuck and Company
Sears, Roebuck and Company
Sears, officially named Sears, Roebuck and Co., is an American chain of department stores which was founded by Richard Warren Sears and Alvah Curtis Roebuck in the late 19th century...
) in 1999. The subsequent disposal programme (including selling some of the assets, ironically, to Arcadia) raised £729m and confirmed his reputation as a man who could deliver within the retail sector.
BHS, Arcadia, Topshop
Green came to public attention in 1999 when he assisted Tina GreenTina Green
Christina, Lady Green is a Monaco-based, South African-born businesswoman.Married to British retail businessman Sir Philip Green, her second husband, Tina Green owns all the family shares in Jersey-registered Taveta Investments...
to make a £9-billion hostile bid for Marks and Spencer (M&S). However, the leaking of the bid forced up M&S's share price. The board of M&S were also hostile to the bid and sought to block it. Eventually Green gave up and helped his wife purchase the ailing retail chain British Home Stores for £200 million. His takeover came when everyone else had dismissed the company as a failing brand and unfixable. Green put up £50 million of his own money and borrowed another £150 million to seal the deal. Green completely turned the company around and the chain is now thought to be worth over £1.2 billion. Since Green took over, profits have tripled to over £200 million per year.
Next, Green assisted Tina Green
Tina Green
Christina, Lady Green is a Monaco-based, South African-born businesswoman.Married to British retail businessman Sir Philip Green, her second husband, Tina Green owns all the family shares in Jersey-registered Taveta Investments...
in the purchase the Arcadia Group
Arcadia Group
The Arcadia Group Limited a British company that owns the high street clothing retailers Burton, Dorothy Perkins, Evans, Miss Selfridge, Topman, Topshop, Wallis and BHS, and the out of town chain Outfit, which sells lines from the other group chains...
, which owns well-known High Street chains such as Burton
Burton (clothes retailer)
Burton is a large United Kingdom high street clothing retailer. The company was once a constituent of the FTSE 100 Index, but is now part of the Arcadia Group.-History:...
, Dorothy Perkins
Dorothy Perkins
Dorothy Perkins, whose trading name was inspired by a rambler rose of the same name, is a large British women's clothing retailer, active mostly in the United Kingdom.- History :...
, Evans
Evans (clothing retailer)
Evans is a women's clothing retailer located in the United Kingdom and Ireland. They have over 300 stores around the UK selling plus-size clothing, lingerie, wide fitting shoes, swimwear and accessories.- Timeline :...
, Miss Selfridge, Outfit, Topshop
Topshop
Topshop is a British clothes retailer with shops in over 20 countries and online operations in a number of its markets. Its sales come primarily from women's clothing and fashion accessories...
/Topman
Topman
TOPMAN is the stand-alone fashion business counterpart of Topshop that caters exclusively to men’s clothing. A part of the Arcadia Group, which also owns Burton, Miss Selfridge, Wallis, Evans, British Home Stores and Dorothy Perkins, Topman has a chain of high-street men's clothing stores located...
and Wallis
Wallis (retailer)
Wallis is a British women's clothing retailer. The brand operates from 134 stores and 126 concessions across the UK and Republic of Ireland. Wallis is a subsidiary of the Arcadia Group and one of the many companies under ownership of Philip Green, a British retailing icon.-History:The first store...
in 2002. The company was briefly owned by Green but sold to Tina Green
Tina Green
Christina, Lady Green is a Monaco-based, South African-born businesswoman.Married to British retail businessman Sir Philip Green, her second husband, Tina Green owns all the family shares in Jersey-registered Taveta Investments...
within 24 hours, with Philip acting as CEO.
The Arcadia Group
Arcadia Group
The Arcadia Group Limited a British company that owns the high street clothing retailers Burton, Dorothy Perkins, Evans, Miss Selfridge, Topman, Topshop, Wallis and BHS, and the out of town chain Outfit, which sells lines from the other group chains...
has been profitable, and currently has pre-tax profits of around £380 million per year.
Recently he had added the Etam UK
Etam UK
Etam UK was a British women's, retail clothing brand owned by the French firm Etam Developement.The brand included a subsidiary called Tammy which specialized in clothing for girls in their early teens....
chain to the group. Green paid £850 million, and repaid the £808 million he had borrowed to finance the deal in two years, a move that stunned commentators when it was announced.
When The Guardian
The Guardian
The Guardian, formerly known as The Manchester Guardian , is a British national daily newspaper in the Berliner format...
newspaper investigated a proposed takeover of Safeway
Safeway (UK)
Safeway was a chain of supermarkets and convenience stores in the United Kingdom. It started as a subsidiary of the American Safeway Inc., before being sold off in 1987....
in 2003, Green responded to queries about Arcadia's accounts by insulting and swearing at the journalists.
On 20 October 2005 Green awarded Arcadia shareholders a £1.3-billion dividend.
Other activities
Green is a supporter of the Fashion Retail Academy and the industry charity Retail TrustRetail Trust
Retail Trust is a charity based in North London which aims to support those working in the retail industry in the U.K. The charity runs a helpline and several retirement estates in England and Scotland, as well as giving educational bursaries and hardship grants.-History:Retail Trust was founded...
. Green was knighted
Knight Bachelor
The rank of Knight Bachelor is a part of the British honours system. It is the most basic rank of a man who has been knighted by the monarch but not as a member of one of the organised Orders of Chivalry...
on 17 June 2006.
In May 2007 after the disappearance of Madeleine McCann
Disappearance of Madeleine McCann
Madeleine McCann disappeared on the evening of Thursday, 3 May 2007. She was on holiday with her parents and twin siblings in the Algarve region of Portugal. The British girl went missing from an apartment, in the central area of the resort of Praia da Luz, a few days before her fourth...
in Portugal
Portugal
Portugal , officially the Portuguese Republic is a country situated in southwestern Europe on the Iberian Peninsula. Portugal is the westernmost country of Europe, and is bordered by the Atlantic Ocean to the West and South and by Spain to the North and East. The Atlantic archipelagos of the...
, Green donated £250,000 as a monetary reward for any useful public information. He also provided the McCanns with the use of his private jet to allow them to fly to Rome
Rome
Rome is the capital of Italy and the country's largest and most populated city and comune, with over 2.7 million residents in . The city is located in the central-western portion of the Italian Peninsula, on the Tiber River within the Lazio region of Italy.Rome's history spans two and a half...
for a Papal visit
Pope
The Pope is the Bishop of Rome, a position that makes him the leader of the worldwide Catholic Church . In the Catholic Church, the Pope is regarded as the successor of Saint Peter, the Apostle...
. Green intends to increase the reward money to £1 million for the safe return of Madeleine.
He was reportedly the BBC's first choice to front the UK franchise of The Apprentice; however during that period in 2004, he was too busy with Arcadia's attempted takeover of Marks and Spencer.
Personal life
Green is based during the week at a London hotel, spending the weekends with his South AfricaSouth Africa
The Republic of South Africa is a country in southern Africa. Located at the southern tip of Africa, it is divided into nine provinces, with of coastline on the Atlantic and Indian oceans...
n wife and owner of Arcadia Tina Green
Tina Green
Christina, Lady Green is a Monaco-based, South African-born businesswoman.Married to British retail businessman Sir Philip Green, her second husband, Tina Green owns all the family shares in Jersey-registered Taveta Investments...
and their children Chloe and Brandon in an apartment in Monaco
Monaco
Monaco , officially the Principality of Monaco , is a sovereign city state on the French Riviera. It is bordered on three sides by its neighbour, France, and its centre is about from Italy. Its area is with a population of 35,986 as of 2011 and is the most densely populated country in the...
.
Green counts as his friends, David and Simon Reuben
David and Simon Reuben
David and Simon Reuben are well known British businessmen and philanthropists. In the Forbes magazine List of billionaires 2011, ranking of the wealthiest people in the UK, the brothers were placed second with an estimated fortune of £5.5 billion...
, Lord Hanson, Philip Colbert
Philip Colbert
Philip Colbert is a British fashion designer, artist and journalist.-Career:Colbert started Rodnik Fashion with Richard Ascott. Inspired by a shop opened by Princess Teneshava in Moscow 1904, the two began selling Russian goats wool Scarves and the company grew quickly, diversifying, quickly...
, Tom Hunter
Tom Hunter
Sir Thomas Blane Hunter is a Scottish businessman, entrepreneur, and philanthropist.In April 2007, Hunter was reported in the Sunday Times Rich List as the first ever home-grown billionaire in Scotland, with an estimated wealth of £1.05 billion...
, Mohamed Al-Fayed
Mohamed Al-Fayed
Mohamed Abdel Moneim Al-Fayed is an Egyptian businessman and billionaire. Amongst his business interests are ownership of the English Premiership football team Fulham Football Club, Hôtel Ritz Paris and formerly Harrods Department Store, Knightsbridge...
of Harrods
Harrods
Harrods is an upmarket department store located in Brompton Road in Brompton, in the Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea, London. The Harrods brand also applies to other enterprises undertaken by the Harrods group of companies including Harrods Bank, Harrods Estates, Harrods Aviation and Air...
, Bill Kenwright
Bill Kenwright
Bill Kenwright CBE is a leading West End theatre producer and film producer.He is also the Chairman of Everton Football Club, an English professional football club from the city of Liverpool....
, David Goodman
David Goodman
David Goodman may refer to:* David Goodman , member of the Ohio Senate* David Goodman , Australian Paralympian* David A. Goodman, American writer and producer* David G. Goodman, American Japanologist* David S...
, Simon Cowell
Simon Cowell
Simon Phillip Cowell is an English A&R executive, television producer, entrepreneur, and television personality. He is known in the United Kingdom and United States for his role as a talent judge on TV shows such as Pop Idol, The X Factor, Britain's Got Talent and American Idol...
, Michael Winner
Michael Winner
Michael Robert Winner is a British film director and producer, active in both Europe and the United States, also known as a food critic for the Sunday Times.-Early life and early career :...
and the Indian tycoon Vijay Mallya
Vijay Mallya
Vijay Mallya is an Indian liquor and airline baron. The son of industrialist Vittal Mallya, he is the chairman of the United Breweries Group and Kingfisher Airlines. His United Spirits is world's second largest liquor maker, by volume...
.
Among Green's more extravagant items are a 208 ft/£32 million Benetti
Benetti
Benetti is an Italian shipbuilding and Boat building company based in Viareggio, Livorno and Fano, owned by Azimut.Benetti designs and constructs motoryachts, and is one of the leading builders of custom superyachts, having won the Showboats International magazine "shipyard number 1" award six...
yacht Lionheart and a £20 million Gulfstream G550
Gulfstream G500/G550
The Gulfstream G500 and G550 are business jet aircraft produced by General Dynamics' Gulfstream Aerospace unit, located in Savannah, Georgia, USA. They are variants of the Gulfstream V. There are nine G500s, and 198 G550s in active service as of ....
private jet . For his birthday, his wife bought him a solid gold Monopoly
Monopoly
A monopoly exists when a specific person or enterprise is the only supplier of a particular commodity...
set, featuring his very own acquisitions.
Green has been described as "flash". For his son's Bar Mitzvah in 2005, he spent £4 million on a three-day event for over 200 friends and family in the French Riviera
French Riviera
The Côte d'Azur, pronounced , often known in English as the French Riviera , is the Mediterranean coastline of the southeast corner of France, also including the sovereign state of Monaco...
. He also hired Andrea Bocelli
Andrea Bocelli
Andrea Bocelli, is an Italian tenor, multi-instrumentalist and classical crossover artist. Born with poor eyesight, he became blind at the age of twelve following a soccer accident....
and Destiny's Child
Destiny's Child
Destiny's Child was an American R&B girl group whose final line-up comprised lead singer Beyoncé Knowles alongside Kelly Rowland and Michelle Williams. Formed in 1997 in Houston, Texas, Destiny's Child members began their musical endeavors in their pre-teens under the name Girl's Tyme...
to perform. For his 50th birthday he flew 200 guests in a chartered Airbus A300 to a hotel in Cyprus
Cyprus
Cyprus , officially the Republic of Cyprus , is a Eurasian island country, member of the European Union, in the Eastern Mediterranean, east of Greece, south of Turkey, west of Syria and north of Egypt. It is the third largest island in the Mediterranean Sea.The earliest known human activity on the...
for a three-day toga party, where they were serenaded by Tom Jones
Tom Jones (singer)
Sir Thomas John Woodward, OBE , known by his stage name Tom Jones, is a Welsh singer.Since the mid 1960s, Jones has sung many styles of popular music – pop, rock, R&B, show tunes, country, dance, techno, soul and gospel – and sold over 100 million records...
and Rod Stewart
Rod Stewart
Roderick David "Rod" Stewart, CBE is a British singer-songwriter and musician, born and raised in North London, England and currently residing in Epping. He is of Scottish and English ancestry....
, who was reportedly paid £750,000 for a 45-minute set. For his 55th birthday he flew 100 guests 8,500 miles in two private jets from London Stansted Airport
London Stansted Airport
-Cargo:-Statistics:-Infrastructure:-Terminal and satellite buildings:Stansted is the newest passenger airport of all the main London airports. The terminal is an oblong glass building, and is separated in to three areas: Check-in concourse, arrivals and departures...
. They arrived at the exclusive Maldives
Maldives
The Maldives , , officially Republic of Maldives , also referred to as the Maldive Islands, is an island nation in the Indian Ocean formed by a double chain of twenty-six atolls oriented north-south off India's Lakshadweep islands, between Minicoy Island and...
resort of Four Seasons: Landaagiraavaru, an eco-spa on a private Indian Ocean
Indian Ocean
The Indian Ocean is the third largest of the world's oceanic divisions, covering approximately 20% of the water on the Earth's surface. It is bounded on the north by the Indian Subcontinent and Arabian Peninsula ; on the west by eastern Africa; on the east by Indochina, the Sunda Islands, and...
island.
His business hero is the late Sir Charles Clore
Charles Clore
Sir Charles Clore was a British financier, retail and property magnate and philanthropist.-Career:Charles Clore owned, through Sears Holdings, the British Shoe Corporation and Selfridges department store, as well as investing heavily in property.He owned Jowett Cars Ltd from 1945-1947 where he was...
, who built the Sears Plc UK retail empire from next to nothing in the 1950s and 1960s.
Football involvement
He is a massive football fan and is a Tottenham Hotspur supporter. In 1987 he suggested to Irving Scholar the Spurs Chairman that Tony Berry be appointed to the board.In 1991 he helped Terry Venables raise the last £500,000 needed to purchase shares in the club.
He was also involved in the transfers of Rio Ferdinand
Rio Ferdinand
Rio Gavin Ferdinand is an English footballer. He plays at centre back for Manchester United in the Premier League and for the England national football team...
from Leeds United and Louis Saha
Louis Saha
Louis Laurent Saha is a French footballer of Guadelupian origin who currently plays as a forward for Everton FC in the Premier League and the France national team. A former scholar at the Clairefontaine football academy, he started his career at Metz before playing on loan at Newcastle United...
from Fulham to Manchester United.
He is heavily involved with Everton Football Club due to his friendship with chairman Bill Kenwright, but has no intention of formally investing in the club. He arranged for another friend, Planet Hollywood's owner Robert Earle
Robert Earl (businessman)
Robert Ian Earl is the founder of the Planet Hollywood chain of fast-food restaurants and an Everton F.C. director.-Everton Football Club:On October 20 2006 Earl the sandwich king bought shares in Everton from major shareholders Paul and Anita Gregg, they resigned from the board following the sale....
to purchase shares from former director Paul Gregg
Paul Gregg
Paul Gregg is an English multi-millionaire businessman and entertainment impresario, who built Apollo Leisure Group into the UK's biggest theatre owner....
during a struggle for control of Everton in 2004. He offers business advice to the club alongside Tesco
Tesco
Tesco plc is a global grocery and general merchandise retailer headquartered in Cheshunt, United Kingdom. It is the third-largest retailer in the world measured by revenues and the second-largest measured by profits...
CEO Terry Leahy
Terry Leahy
Sir Terry Leahy is a former CEO of Tesco, the largest British supermarket chain.He lives in Cuffley, Hertfordshire, with his wife, Alison and his three children.- Early life :...
and helps negotiates player transfer fees with agents.
Sir Phillip Green is also involved with Watford due to his friendship with Watford chairman L. Bassini. He is due to help them redevelop Vicarage Road Stadium.
Political views
Two weeks prior to the 2010 general election, Green came out in support of David CameronDavid Cameron
David William Donald Cameron is the current Prime Minister of the United Kingdom, First Lord of the Treasury, Minister for the Civil Service and Leader of the Conservative Party. Cameron represents Witney as its Member of Parliament ....
, George Osborne
George Osborne
George Gideon Oliver Osborne, MP is a British Conservative politician. He is the Chancellor of the Exchequer of the United Kingdom, a role to which he was appointed in May 2010, and has been the Member of Parliament for Tatton since 2001.Osborne is part of the old Anglo-Irish aristocracy, known in...
and the Conservative Party
Conservative Party (UK)
The Conservative Party, formally the Conservative and Unionist Party, is a centre-right political party in the United Kingdom that adheres to the philosophies of conservatism and British unionism. It is the largest political party in the UK, and is currently the largest single party in the House...
, stating that "[Cameron and Osborne] understand what needs to be done. They get it."
Efficiency review on government spending
In August 2010, Green was asked by the recently elected Prime MinisterPrime minister
A prime minister is the most senior minister of cabinet in the executive branch of government in a parliamentary system. In many systems, the prime minister selects and may dismiss other members of the cabinet, and allocates posts to members within the government. In most systems, the prime...
, David Cameron
David Cameron
David William Donald Cameron is the current Prime Minister of the United Kingdom, First Lord of the Treasury, Minister for the Civil Service and Leader of the Conservative Party. Cameron represents Witney as its Member of Parliament ....
, to carry out a review of government spending and procurement. Green's summary report, Efficiency Review by Sir Philip Green, published in October 2010, alleged significant failings in government procurement processes, however it has been generally dismissed by the procurement profession as being ill-researched and of little real worth.
Tax avoidance
Green became the target of activist group UK UncutUK Uncut
UK Uncut is a United Kingdom-based protest group established in October 2010 to protest against tax avoidance in the UK and to raise awareness about cuts to public services. Various sources have described the group as left-wing in its political orientation...
in November 2010 for his history of corporate tax avoidance. The group targeted Green specifically as a Government advisor.
On 4 December 2010 campaigners staged a sit-in at Green's flagship London Oxford Street
Oxford Street
Oxford Street is a major thoroughfare in the City of Westminster in the West End of London, United Kingdom. It is Europe's busiest shopping street, as well as its most dense, and currently has approximately 300 shops. The street was formerly part of the London-Oxford road which began at Newgate,...
Topshop
Topshop
Topshop is a British clothes retailer with shops in over 20 countries and online operations in a number of its markets. Its sales come primarily from women's clothing and fashion accessories...
store, and in Brighton a few glued themselves to the branch windows, while other high streets in towns and cities across Britain saw similar protests in a day of action against the tax arrangements of rich individuals and big businesses.
Green, the Arcadia retail group tycoon, became the focus of anger over the programme of government cuts that campaigners said could be avoided if tax dodging was stamped out, bringing in some £25bn a year to the public purse and reducing the national debt.
Taveta Investments, the company used to acquire Arcadia in 2002, is in the name of Green's wife, Tina Green
Tina Green
Christina, Lady Green is a Monaco-based, South African-born businesswoman.Married to British retail businessman Sir Philip Green, her second husband, Tina Green owns all the family shares in Jersey-registered Taveta Investments...
, a Monaco resident, avoiding £285 million in tax that would be payable if a UK resident owned the company. When Green paid his family £1.2bn in 2005, it was paid for by a loan taken out by Arcadia, cutting Arcadia's corporation tax as interest charges on the loan were offset against profits.
Excessive pay
Green has fallen under criticism for taking excessive pay, earned through his shareholdings in ArcadiaArcadia
Arcadia is one of the regional units of Greece. It is part of the administrative region of Peloponnese. It is situated in the central and eastern part of the Peloponnese peninsula. It takes its name from the mythological character Arcas. In Greek mythology, it was the home of the god Pan...
. In 2005, he declared a dividend in Arcadia, in which he had a holding of 92% of the shares. This meant he earned £1.2 billion in a single year. Green defended himself by saying, "So far as I'm concerned we are in the risk business. We risk our reputation and our money when we buy things. We don't have a guarantee on the back we can get a refund when we haven't got it right."
Worker rights
Arcadia has been criticised for the pay and conditions of both overseas and UK workers by anti-sweatshopAnti-sweatshop
Anti-Sweatshop refers to campaigning movements to improve the conditions of workers in Sweatshops, i.e. manufacturing places characterized by low wages, poor working conditions and often child labor...
groups such as Labour Behind the Label
Labour Behind the Label
Labour Behind the Label is a campaign for workers' rights in the clothing industry. It is the platform of the international Clean Clothes Campaign in the United Kingdom...
, No Sweat and the student activist network People & Planet
People & Planet
People & Planet is a network of student campaign groups in the UK. It claims to be "the largest student campaigning organization in the country campaigning to alleviate world poverty, defend human rights and protect the environment."-Organization:...
. Sir Philip Green denied Sunday Times allegations in 2007 that his firm used overseas sweatshop
Sweatshop
Sweatshop is a negatively connoted term for any working environment considered to be unacceptably difficult or dangerous. Sweatshop workers often work long hours for very low pay, regardless of laws mandating overtime pay or a minimum wage. Child labour laws may be violated. Sweatshops may have...
s where workers in Mauritius were paid pitiful wages. In 2010, Sir Philip was again accused, this time by Channel 4's Dispatches programme of still using sweatshops - in Britain, where workers were paid less than half the legal minimum wage
Minimum wage
A minimum wage is the lowest hourly, daily or monthly remuneration that employers may legally pay to workers. Equivalently, it is the lowest wage at which workers may sell their labour. Although minimum wage laws are in effect in a great many jurisdictions, there are differences of opinion about...
.
Involvement in government cuts
On 29 November 2010, following protests against university fee rises and cuts2010 UK student protests
The 2010 UK student protests were a series of demonstrations that began in November 2010 in several areas of the United Kingdom, with the focal point of protests centred in London. The initial event was the largest student protest in the UK since the Labour government first proposed the Teaching...
, protesters occupied the flagship Oxford Street branch of Topshop, to highlight Green's involvement in the government spending cuts. They chanted "Philip Green's taxation could pay for education". Similar protests and occupations were set up at several stores owned by Mr. Green, including Manchester, Glasgow, Edinburgh, Liverpool, Leicester, York, Bristol, Portsmouth, Southampton, Newcastle and Cambridge. Arcadia shops came under major attacks during the TUC March for the Alternative demonstration
2011 anti-cuts protest in London
The 2011 anti-cuts protest in London, also known as the March for the Alternative, was a demonstration held in central London on 26 March 2011...
on 26 March 2011.
Personal style
Green has been criticised for what some see as an overly aggressive personal style. He has a reputation for colourful language and in 2003 made a string of expletive-laden outbursts to the Guardian's financial editor, Paul Murphy. Mr Green said: "He can't read English. Mind you, he is a fucking Irishman." He later apologised to the Irish, after customers threatened to boycott his stores.External links
- Forbes.com: World's Richest People 2004 entry
- Forbes.com: World's Richest People 2006 entry Interview with Green discussing his life.
- Times Online interview with Philip Green, December, 2007 (video)
- Growing Business meets Sir Philip Green
- The Guardians portal for article on Green. Interview with Green.
- Stewart Lansley and Andy Forrester, Top Man, How Philip Green Built His Hight Street Empire, Aurum, 2006
- The British (retail) invasion