Michael Philip Green (born 2 December 1947) is an English businessman and

psychotherapist Psychotherapy (also psychological therapy, talk therapy, or talking therapy) is the use of Psychology, psychological methods, particularly when based on regular Conversation, personal interaction, to help a person change behavior, increase hap ...

, who is the owner of Tangent Communications. He was previously the chairman of

Carlton Communications Carlton Communications plc was a British media company. It was led by Michael P. Green and listed on the London Stock Exchange from 1983 until 2 February 2004, when it was bought by Granada plc in a corporate takeover to form ITV plc. Carlton s ...

, until it merged with

Granada Granada ( ; ) is the capital city of the province of Granada, in the autonomous communities of Spain, autonomous community of Andalusia, Spain. Granada is located at the foot of the Sierra Nevada (Spain), Sierra Nevada mountains, at the confluence ...

to form

ITV plc ITV plc is a British media company that holds 13 of the 15 regional television licences that make up the ITV (TV network), ITV network (Channel 3), the oldest and largest commercial terrestrial television network in the United Kingdom. ITV plc ...

Early life

Green was born on 2 December 1947 in

Hampstead Hampstead () is an area in London, England, which lies northwest of Charing Cross, located mainly in the London Borough of Camden, with a small part in the London Borough of Barnet. It borders Highgate and Golders Green to the north, Belsiz ...

, London, to Cyril, a shirt manufacturer, and Irene, a doctor. His grandparents fled anti-Jewish pogroms in eastern Europe, and his father went on to run a successful business making drip-dry shirts. The business was sold when Green was 13. Green was educated at The Haberdashers' Aske's Boys' School, in

Elstree Elstree is a large village in the Hertsmere borough of Hertfordshire, England. It is about northwest of central London on the former A5 road, which follows the course of Watling Street. In 2011, its population was 5,110. It forms part of the ...

Hertfordshire Hertfordshire ( or ; often abbreviated Herts) is a ceremonial county in the East of England and one of the home counties. It borders Bedfordshire to the north-west, Cambridgeshire to the north-east, Essex to the east, Greater London to the ...

on a scholarship and left, aged 17, with four O-Levels. Contemporaries included

David Elstein David Keith Elstein (born 14 November 1944) is an executive producer and a former chair of openDemocracy. Early life and career His parents were Polish orphans who were brought to Britain by the Rothschild Foundation, and ran a ladies' outfitter ...

, the former head of Channel 5, and

Nicholas Serota Sir Nicholas Andrew Serota (born 27 April 1946) is a British art historian and curator. He has been chairman of Arts Council England since February 2017. Serota was director of the Museum of Modern Art, Oxford, then director of the Whitechap ...

, director of the Tate Gallery.

Career

After working in

public relations Public relations (PR) is the practice of managing and disseminating information from an individual or an organization (such as a business, government agency, or a nonprofit organization) to the public in order to influence their perception. Pu ...

, Green went into business with his brother, founding the printing and direct mail firm Tangent Industries, making him a millionaire by the age of 21. He later created

with his elder brother, David, and they got the company on the London

stock market A stock market, equity market, or share market is the aggregation of buyers and sellers of stocks (also called shares), which represent ownership claims on businesses; these may include ''securities'' listed on a public stock exchange a ...

in 1983. Five years later, Carlton bought the US firm

Technicolor SA Vantiva SA (formerly Technicolor SA, Thomson SARL, Thomson SA, and Thomson Multimedia) is a French multinational corporation that provides technology products and services for the communication, media and entertainment industries. Headquarter ...

. Following the

Broadcasting Act 1990 The Broadcasting Act 1990 (c. 42) is an Act of Parliament (UK), act of the Parliament of the United Kingdom, which aimed to liberalise and deregulate the British broadcasting industry by promoting competition; an example being ITV (TV network), ...

, which had changed the criteria for ITV franchise assignment from quality to commercial,

Carlton Television Carlton Television (now part of the non-franchised ITV London region) was the ITV franchise holder for London and the surrounding counties from 9.25am every Monday to 5.15pm every Friday. The company is now managed with London Weekend Tele ...

, in 1992, successfully bid £43m to secure the London weekday ITV franchise previously held by

Thames Television Thames Television, commonly simplified to just Thames, was a franchise holder for a region of the British ITV television network serving London and surrounding areas from 30 July 1968 until the night of 31 December 1992. Thames Television broa ...

. It was suggested that Green influenced the Thatcher government in their 1990 decision to change the criteria through his relationship by marriage with government

Secretary of State for Trade and Industry The secretary of state for business and trade (business secretary), is a Secretary of State (United Kingdom), secretary of state in the Government of the United Kingdom, with responsibility for the Department for Business and Trade. The incumb ...

, Lord Young. ''

The Times ''The Times'' is a British Newspaper#Daily, daily Newspaper#National, national newspaper based in London. It began in 1785 under the title ''The Daily Universal Register'', adopting its modern name on 1 January 1788. ''The Times'' and its si ...

'' wrote that Green gained "praise for his buccaneering style, charisma and ability to get a deal done". As a result, Carlton expanded and went on to acquiring other ITV franchisees up until in 2004, when it merged with

to form

. As a result of the merger, Green left the company. As well as Carlton Communications, Green has also held non-executive directorships at

Getty Images Getty Images Holdings, Inc. (stylized as gettyimages) is a visual media company and supplier of stock images, editorial photography, video, and music for business and consumers, with a library of over 477 million assets. It targets three mark ...

GMTV GMTV (an initialism for Good Morning Television), now legally known as ''ITV Breakfast, ITV Breakfast Broadcasting Limited'', was the name of the national ITV (TV network), ITV breakfast television contractor/licensee, broadcasting in the Uni ...

ITN Independent Television News (ITN) is a UK-based media production and broadcast journalism company. ITN is based in London, with bureaux and offices in Beijing, Brussels, Jerusalem, Johannesburg, New York City, New York, Paris, Sydney and Washin ...

Reuters Group Reuters Group plc was a British multinational media and financial information company headquartered in London, United Kingdom. It was acquired by the Thomson Corporation in 2008, forming Thomson Reuters, and moved its head office to Toronto. ...

and

Thomson Multimedia Vantiva SA (formerly Technicolor SA, Thomson SARL, Thomson SA, and Thomson Multimedia) is a French multinational corporation that provides technology products and services for the communication, media and entertainment industries. Headquarter ...

. He is non-executive chairman of Tangent Communications, where his nephew, Timothy Green, is chief executive. Green retrained in psychotherapy, which he has practised from 2011.

References

Bibliography

* 1996: ''Greenfinger: The rise of Michael Green and Carlton Communications'' by

Raymond Snoddy Matthew Raymond Snoddy , (born 1946), commonly known as Raymond Snoddy, is a British news media journalist, News broadcasting#Television news, television News broadcasting, presenter, author and Pundit, media commentator. From its inception in ...

External links

Tangent Communications
1947 births Carlton Television English businesspeople ITV people Living people People educated at Haberdashers' Boys' School English Jews People from Hampstead {{UK-tv-bio-stub