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 psychological methods, particularly when based on regular personal interaction, to help a person change behavior, increase happiness, and overcome prob ...

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

Carlton Communications Carlton 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 shareholders gained ...

, until it merged with

Granada Granada (,, DIN: ; grc, Ἐλιβύργη, Elibýrgē; la, Illiberis or . ) is the capital city of the province of Granada, in the autonomous community of Andalusia, Spain. Granada is located at the foot of the Sierra Nevada mountains, at the c ...

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 network (Channel 3), the oldest and largest commercial terrestrial television network in the United Kingdom. ITV plc is listed on th ...

Early life

Green was born on 2 December 1947 in

Hampstead Hampstead () is an area in London, which lies northwest of Charing Cross, and extends from the A5 road (Roman Watling Street) to Hampstead Heath, a large, hilly expanse of parkland. The area forms the northwest part of the London Borough o ...

, 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, that follows the course of Watling Street. In 2011, its population was 5,110. It forms part of t ...

Hertfordshire Hertfordshire ( or ; often abbreviated Herts) is one of the home counties in southern England. It borders Bedfordshire and Cambridgeshire to the north, Essex to the east, Greater London to the south, and Buckinghamshire to the west. For gov ...

on a scholarship and left, aged 17, with four

O-Level The O-Level (Ordinary Level) is a subject-based qualification conferred as part of the General Certificate of Education. It was introduced in place of the School Certificate in 1951 as part of an educational reform alongside the more in-dept ...

s. Contemporaries included David Elstein, the former head of Channel 5, and

Nicholas Serota Sir Nicholas Andrew Serota, (born 27 April 1946) is an English art historian and curator, who served as the Director of the Tate from 1988 to 2017. He is currently Chair of Arts Council England, a role which he has held since February 2017. ...

, 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. ...

, 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, ...

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

Technicolor Technicolor is a series of Color motion picture film, color motion picture processes, the first version dating back to 1916, and followed by improved versions over several decades. Definitive Technicolor movies using three black and white films ...

. Following the

Broadcasting Act 1990 The Broadcasting Act 1990 is a law of the British parliament, initiated in part due to a 1989 European Council Directive (89/552), also known as the Television Without Frontiers directive. The aim of the Act was to liberalise and deregulate the B ...

, 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, Lord Young. ''

The Times ''The Times'' is a British daily national newspaper based in London. It began in 1785 under the title ''The Daily Universal Register'', adopting its current name on 1 January 1788. ''The Times'' and its sister paper '' The Sunday Times'' ( ...

'' 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. is an American visual media company and is a supplier of stock images, editorial photography, video and music for business and consumers, with a library of over 477 million assets. It targets three markets—creativ ...

GMTV GMTV (an acronym for Good Morning Television), now legally known as ITV Breakfast Broadcasting Limited, was the name of the national Channel 3 breakfast television contractor/licensee, broadcasting in the United Kingdom from 1 January 1993 ...

, ITN, Reuters Group and Thomson Multimedia. 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

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