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[[Image:Kingkongposter.jpg|right|thumb| The original 1933 ''[[King Kong (1933)|King Kong]]'' was one of the earliest and most famous monster movies.]]
'''''Monster Movie''''' (also can be referred to as '''''Creature Feature''''' or '''''Monster Film''''') is a name commonly given to [[movies]], which centre around the struggle between [[human beings]] and one or more monsters. While there is no specific academic [[genre]] classification of that name, the term is usually applied to films sometimes labelled as [[horror film|horror]], [[fantasy film|fantasy]] or [[science fiction film|science fiction]] genre that involve fictional creatures, in most cases it is applied to films that feature more oversized monsters despite its history starting withadaptations of horror folklore and literature. In [[Japanese cinema]], such monsters are referred to as [[Kaiju]]. Typically, movie monsters differ from more traditional antagonists in that many exist due to circumstances beyond their control; their actions not entirely based on choice, potentially making them objects of empathy to film viewers.


{{dablink|For the author, see [[Philip Green (author)]]. For the Star Trek villain, see [[Colonel Phillip Green]].}}
==History==
{{Infobox Person
| image = Replace this image male.svg <!-- Only freely-licensed images may be used to depict living people. See [[WP:NONFREE]]. -->
| image_size = 150px |
| name = Philip Green
| caption =
| birth_date = {{Birth date and age|1952|3|15}}
| birth_place = [[Croydon]], [[London]], [[England]]
| death_date =
| death_place =
| education =
| occupation = [[Businessman]]
| spouse =
| parents =
| children =
}}


'''Sir Philip Green''' (born [[15 March]] [[1952]]) is a [[United Kingdom|British]] billionaire businessman who owns some of the [[United Kingdom]]'s largest retailers, including [[Bhs]] and the [[Arcadia Group]]. He is [[UK|Britain]]'s seventh richest man, with a total of 2300 shops in the [[United Kingdom|UK]] and assets worth around £3.61bn. His assets currently control 12% of the UK clothing retail market, making his empire the second-largest in the sector. The leader, [[Marks and Spencer]], has been the target of three unsuccessful takeover bids from Green.
The first feature length films to include what are regarded as monsters were often classed as horror or science fiction films. The 1915 [[Germany|German]] [[silent film]], ''[[The Golem (1915 film)|The Golem]]'' directed by [[Paul Wegener]] is one of the earliest examples of film to include a creature or monster. Following the tradition came another German yet [[Expressionist]] ''[[Nosferatu]]'' in 1922. It was in the 1930s, where [[United States|American]] movie production began to screen more successful films of this type, usually based on [[Gothic fiction|gothic]] tales such as ''[[Dracula (1931 film)|Dracula]]'' and ''[[Frankenstein (1931 film)|Frankenstein]]'' in 1931, both heavily influenced by [[German Expressionism]], followed by ''[[The Mummy (1932 film)|The Mummy]]'' (1932) and ''[[The Invisible Man (1933 film)|The Invisible Man]]'' (1933). Despite being classed as Horror films, they included iconic monsters.


==Biography==
Special effects animator [[Willis O'Brien]] worked on the 1925 fantasy adventure ''[[The Lost World (1925 film)|The Lost World]]'' based on the [[The Lost World|novel of the same name]] featured [[dinosaur]]s, which would become the basis for many future monster movies. He began work on a similar film known as ''[[Creation (1931 film)|Creation]]'' in 1931 but the project was never completed.<ref>{{cite book | year=1995 | title=The Illustrated Dinosaur Movie Guide | author = Stephen Jones | pages=26 | publisher=Titan Books | language=English}}</ref> However 2 years later he worked on the special effects for the [[RKO]] 1933 film ''[[King Kong (1933 film)|King Kong]]'' directed by [[Merian C. Cooper]]. Since then ''King Kong'' has not only become the one of the first and most famous examples of traditional monster movies, but also is considered a landmark films in the [[history of cinema]]. The monster [[King Kong]] also became a [[cultural icon]], being featured in (or something similar to Kong) many other film and media since then.<ref>{{cite book | year=1995 | title=The Illustrated Dinosaur Movie Guide | author = Stephen Jones | pages=24-25 | publisher=Titan Books | language=English}}</ref> Following its success came to less successful sequel, ''[[The Son of Kong]]'' later that year.
Philip Green was born into a [[Jewish]] family on [[March 14]], [[1952]] in [[Croydon]], in South London, and has a sister, Elizabeth, five years his senior. The family moved to Hampstead Garden Suburb, 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 (Oxfordshire)|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.
[[Image:Beast from 20,000 Fathoms DVD.jpg|left|thumb| ''[[The Beast from 20,000 Fathoms]]'' helped inspire the following generation of monster movies.]]
King Kong went on to inspire many other films of its genre and aspiring animators. A notable example was [[Ray Harryhausen]],<ref name="ray">{{cite web | url = http://www.stopmotionworks.com/articles/rhearlyrs.htm | title = Ray Harryhausen: The Early Years Collection - Interview | accessdate = 2008-02-09}}</ref> who would work with Willis O’Brien on ''[[Mighty Joe Young (1949 film)|Mighty Joe Young]]'' in 1949. Following the re-release of ''King Kong'' in 1952, Harryhausen would later work on ''[[The Beast from 20,000 Fathoms]]'' in 1953. The film was about a fictional dinosaur, Rhedosaurus, that was awakened from frozen ice in the [[Arctic Circle]] by an [[atomic bomb]] test. It is considered to be the film which kick started the 50s wave of “creature features” and the concept of coining nuclear paranoia with the genre.<ref>{{cite book | year=1995 | title=The Illustrated Dinosaur Movie Guide | author = Stephen Jones | pages=42 | publisher=Titan Books | language=English}}</ref> Such films at the time included ''[[The Creature from the Black Lagoon]]'' (1954), ''[[Them!]]'' (1954), ''[[It Came from Beneath the Sea]]'' (1955), ''[[Tarantula (film)|Tarantula]]'' (1955) and ''[[20 Million Miles to Earth]]'' (1957). ''[[The Giant Behemoth]]'' (1959) was an unacknowledged remake of ''The Beast from 20,000 Fathoms''.


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.
Also during the 50s, the nuclear concept from ''The Beast from 20,000 Fathoms'', along with real life historical events helped Japanese film studio [[Toho]] produced their first successful Kaiju films;<ref>{{cite web | url = http://www.roberthood.net/obsesses/godzilla.htm | title = A Potted History of Godzilla | author = Robert Hood | accessdate = 2008-02-09}}</ref><ref>{{cite web | url = http://www.kensforce.com/Gojira_aka_Godzilla_1954.html | title = Gojira / Godzilla (1954) Synopsis | accessdate = 2008-02-09}}</ref> ''[[Godzilla (1954 film)|Godzilla]]'' (known in Japan as ''Gojira'') in 1954, who since then has appeared in 28 films and like King Kong has appeared in many other media formats and has become one of the most recognisable monsters in the history of cinema. Another [[kaiju]] film from this time was ''[[Rodan (film)|Rodan]]''.


===First million===
Post 1950s, monster movies were less popular as previously yet were still produced. In 1965, Japanese studio [[Kadokawa Pictures]] started their own kaiju franchise to rival that of Toho's Godzilla series, in the form of ''[[Gamera]]''.
He made his first million by cleverly buying, turning around and finally selling a failing retailer called "Jean Jeannie". Buying the company for £65,000 plus debt, which he negotiated a goodwill gesture of £100,000 with the main lending bank to freeze repayments with as he tried to turn the business around, he ended up selling for £9 million of which he paid off its debt and walked away with £6 million. These early examples of entrepreneurship and clothes retailing expertise were to foreshadow his later bigger successes.


===Amber Day===
Ray Harryhausen continued to work on a number of monster films such as ''[[The Valley of Gwangi]]'' (1969) while Toho continued production of Godzilla and other kaiju films like ''[[Mothra]]'' (1962).
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; in 1992 he was forced to resign by the company's leading institutional shareholders. He has not led a quoted company since. Ever since, he has relied upon a close group of like-minded entrepreneurs, including [[Tom Hunter]] (a sports shoe millionaire and one of the richest men in Scotland) and the [[David and Frederick Barclay|Barclay brothers]], to help fund his buccaneering forays into the UK's [[High Street]]s.


===1990s===
In the 1970s, director [[John Guillermin]] [[King Kong (1976 film)|remade King Kong]] in 1976. In 1975 [[Steven Spielberg]] directed ''[[Jaws (film)|Jaws]]'', which while labelled as a “thriller”, features an oversized [[great white shark]]. The [[Alien (Alien franchise)|xenomorph alien]] had its first appearance in the 1979 science-fiction/horror film ''[[Alien (film)|Alien]]'', directed by [[Ridley Scott]].
In the early 1990s Green bought the department store chain [[Owen Owen]] 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 remaining. In 2004 this remaining store was sold off to David Thompson.


In 1995 he linked with Tom Hunter to buy sports retailler OLYMPUS, as part of a merger. The price was one British pound, 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.
In the 1980s, many monster movies became more involved with comedy elements like [[Larry Cohen]]'s ''[[Q (film)|Q – The Winged Serpent]]'' (1982) and [[Ron Underwood]]'s ''[[Tremors (film)|Tremors]]'' (1989/90). Just before the technological revolution that made possible to create digital special effects thanks to [[CGI]], the last generation of [[SFX]] artists impressed us with the quality and realism of their creations: [[Rick Baker]], [[Stan Winston]] and [[Kevin Yagher]] are among the most remarkable names in the industry.


===BHS, Arcadia, Topshop===
Monster movies re-emerged and to a wider audience during the late 1990s into the 2000s. An American [[Godzilla (1998 film)|remake of Godzilla]] was made in 1998, but the "[[Zilla|Godzilla]]" featured in that film was considerably different than the Toho Godzilla (so much that it has been officially decreed by Toho an entirely separate monster) and the majority of Godzilla fans disliked the film. In 2002, a French monster film ''[[Brotherhood of the Wolf]]'' became the second-highest-grossing [[French-language]] film in the [[United States]] in the last two decades.<ref>"Little pictures have a big year", [[Los Angeles Times]], 3 January 2003</ref> In 2004, Godzilla was temporarily retired following ''[[Godzilla: Final Wars]]''. Director [[Peter Jackson]], inspired by the original ''King Kong'' and Ray Harryhausen films,<ref name="ray">{{cite web | url = http://www.stopmotionworks.com/articles/rhearlyrs.htm | title = Ray Harryhausen: The Early Years Collection - Interview | accessdate = 2008-02-09}}</ref> [[King Kong (2005 film)|remade King Kong]] in 2005, which was both a critical and commercial success. In 2006, a [[South Korean]] monster film, ''[[The Host (film)|The Host]]'', involved more political overtones than most of its genre.<ref>{{cite web | url = http://www.cinekklesia.com/mt/archives/2007/10/the_host_monster_movie_with_a_message.html | title = The Host: Monster Movie with a Message at cinekklesia | author = Kevin O'Donovan | date = 2007-10-07 | accessdate = 2008-02-09}}</ref>
Green came to public attention in 1999 when he attempted to make a £7 billion hostile bid for [[Marks and Spencer]]. 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 purchased the ailing retail chain [[BHS]] 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, rebranded it as BHS, and the chain is now thought to be worth over £1.2 billion. Since he took over, profits have tripled to over £200 million a year.


Next, Green purchased the [[Arcadia Group]], which owns well-known High Street chains such as [[Burton (clothes retailer)|Burton]], [[Dorothy Perkins]], [[Evans (clothing retailer)|Evans]], Miss Selfridge, Outfit, [[Topshop]]/[[Topman]] and [[Wallis (retailer)|Wallis]] in 2002. Recently he has added the Etam chain to the group. Green paid £850m, and repaid the £808m he borrowed to finance the deal in two years, a move that stunned commentators when it was announced. The [[Arcadia Group]] has been enormously profitable, and currently has pre-tax profits of around £380 million.
The recent 2008 monster movie, ''[[Cloverfield]]'', while being much in the vein of traditional monster movies, focuses entirely on the perspective of the human cast and has been said to look at [[terrorism]]/[[9/11]] metaphorically.<ref>{{cite web | url = http://www.charlestoncitypaper.com/gyrobase/Content?oid=oid%3A39367 | title = The 9/11 porn of Cloverfield | author = Chris Haire | publisher = Charleston City Paper | date = 2008-01-23 | accessdate = 2008-05-11}}</ref>


On [[October 20]], [[2005]] Green awarded Arcadia shareholders a £1.3 billion dividend. He and his wife are joint owners of 92% of the group, and therefore received £1.17bn - the largest payout to an individual in British corporate history.
As said by [[Peter Jackson]], there will be a another King Kong movie released in the future.


===Other activities===
==References==
Green has pumped more than £6m into education, of which the bulk has gone into [http://www.fashionretailacademy.ac.uk/ The Fashion Retail Academy], a form of specially-funded [[further education]] establishment in the [[United Kingdom]], for which he is the major sponsor. It now has over 200 students.
{{reflist|2}}
Green was [[Knight Bachelor|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.<ref>[http://news.sky.com/skynews/article/0,,91210-1265397,00.html Harry Potter Author Adds To Reward |Sky News|MADELEINE<!-- Bot generated title -->]</ref> He also provided the McCanns with the use of his private jet to allow them to fly to [[Rome]] for a [[Pope|Papal visit]] and back in time to put their twins to bed.<ref>[http://www.findmadeleine.com Finding Madeleine<!-- Bot generated title -->]</ref>Green intends to increase the reward money to £1 million for the safe return of Madeleine.
==See also==
*[[Horror Film]]
*[[Fantasy film|Fantasy Film]]
*[[Science Fiction Film]]
*[[Monster]]
*[[List of Monsters]]


He was reportedly the BBC's first choice to front the UK franchise of [[The Apprentice (UK TV series)|''The Apprentice'']], however during that period in 2004, he was busy with Arcadia's attempted takeover of Marks and Spencer.<ref>[http://www.telegraph.co.uk/money/main.jhtml?xml=/money/2008/06/13/do1306.xml The Apprentice is to real business what Monopoly is to property - Telegraph<!-- Bot generated title -->]</ref>
== External links ==

* [http://www.sciencemonster.net/ Sciencemonster.net] &mdash; Catalog, background, and a few movies to download.
===Personal life===
A UK resident, Green is based in the week at a London hotel, while his [[South Africa]]n wife Christina is a Monaco resident with their children Chloe and Brandon, in a multi-million pound apartment.<ref name=autogenerated1>[http://business.timesonline.co.uk/tol/business/industry_sectors/retailing/article437894.ece?token=null&offset=0 Profile: Philip Green: The fastest billionaire is on his Marks - Times Online<!-- Bot generated title -->]</ref>

Green plays tennis with [[Prince Albert of Monaco]] and counts as his friends, [[David and Simon Reuben]], [[Lord Hanson]], [[Tom Hunter]], [[Mohamed al-Fayed]] of Harrods, Ian Grabiner, David Goodman, Whitecraigs fleeto, Paisley mafia [[Bill Kenwright]], [[Simon Cowell]] and [[Michael Winner]] .<ref name=autogenerated1 />

Among Green's more extravagant items are a 208ft/£32 million [[Benetti]] yacht ''Lionheart''<ref>[http://www.luxist.com/2006/06/07/philip-greens-lionheart-yacht/ Philip Green's Lionheart Yacht - Luxist<!-- Bot generated title -->]</ref> and a £20 million [[Gulfstream G500/G550|Gulfstream G550]] private jet his wife gave him as a Chanukah present.<ref name=autogenerated1 /> 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]], and Cantor [[Gideon Zelermyer]] to perform.<ref>[http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk/4546595.stm BBC NEWS | UK | Billionaire hires Destiny's Child<!-- Bot generated title -->]</ref> For his 50th birthday he flew 200 guests in a chartered [[Boeing 747]] to a hotel in [[Cyprus]] for a three-day toga party, where they were serenaded by [[Tom Jones (singer)|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.<ref>[http://www.guardian.co.uk/uk_news/story/0,,2031683,00.html Pack your shorts, it's time for Sir Philip Green's birthday party | Business | The Guardian<!-- Bot generated title -->]</ref>

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.<ref>http://business.timesonline.co.uk/tol/business/related_reports/entrepreneurs/article2222636.ece</ref>

===Football Involvement===

He is known to be a keen football fan and is a [[Tottenham Hotspur]] supporter. He is heavily involved with [[Everton FC|Everton Football Club]] due to his friendship with chairman Bill Kenwright but has no intention of formally investing in the club.<ref>{{cite web
|url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport2/hi/football/teams/e/everton/7532345.stm
|title=Everton chief executive resigns
|work= BBC.co.uk
}}
</ref>

He arranged for another friend, Planet Hollywood's owner [[Robert Earl (businessman)|Robert Earle]] to purchase shares from former director [[Paul Gregg]] during a struggle for control of Everton in 2004.<ref>
{{cite web
|url=http://www.thisismoney.co.uk/investing-and-markets/article.html?in_article_id=414100&in_page_id=3
|title=Green at heart of Everton battle
|work= thisismoney.co.uk
}}
</ref>

He offers business advice to the club alongside [[Tesco]] CEO [[Terry Leahy]] and helps negotiates player transfer fees with agents.

==Criticism==
===Tax avoidance===
Despite being a prominent figure in UK retail and business, Philip Green has chosen to avoid paying tax in the UK. It is estimated that he and his family saved £300m in 2004–2005 by living partly in [[Monaco]], where residents do not have to pay income tax.<ref name='genius'>{{cite news | first= | last= | coauthors= | title=Retail genius to strike again | date= | publisher= | url =http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/business/562965.stm | work =[[BBC]] | pages = | accessdate = 2007-08-12 | language = }}</ref> Whilst some may see this as the prerogative of a successful and wealthy businessman, others have questioned the morals behind this decision saying it is motivated by greed and is a mean-spirited display of making money from the people of Britain whilst refusing to contribute.

An article in ''[[The Observer]]'' questioned the amount of the dividend the Greens paid themselves and the accumulated profits available for distribution.<ref>[http://taxresearch.wordpress.com/2006/06/19/sir-philip-green-the-rewards-of-tax-avoidance ‘Sir’ Philip Green - the rewards of tax avoidance « TaxNetUK - now at http://www.taxresearch.org.uk/Blog/<!-- Bot generated title -->]</ref> [[Company law]] in the UK says that dividends can only be paid out of accumulated realised profits. According to the article, the Greens paid themselves a dividend of £1.14 billion (total dividends were £1,299 million), when the [[income statement|profit & loss statement]] showed a positive balance of £476 million.

===Asset stripping===
There have also been accusations that Philip Green is an [[Asset stripping|asset-stripper]] as seen with his experiences with [[Owen Owen]] and the purchase of the UK arm of [[Etam UK|Etam]] which have seen a wide sell-off of stores. Philip Green denies this accusation.<ref>[http://www.iht.com/articles/2006/05/05/business/wbspot06.php Spotlight: Day in the life of a deal maker - International Herald Tribune<!-- Bot generated title -->]</ref>

===Worker rights===
Arcadia has made almost no effort to make or demonstrate progress on paying many workers, both overseas and in the United Kingdom, more than a derisory wage and allowing them basic worker rights. Arcadia and Philip Green have been condemned by anti-sweatshop groups such as Labour behind the Label, No Sweat and the student activist network People and Planet.{{Fact|date=November 2007}} [http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/programmes/newsnight/7068096.stm]

==References==
{{reflist}}


==External links and references==
[[Category:Film genres]]
*[http://www.arcadiagroup.co.uk Arcadia Group website]
[[Category:Monster movies| ]]
*[http://www.bhs.co.uk BHS Homepage (bhs.co.uk)]
*[http://www.tammy.co.uk Tammy Homepage]
*[http://www.bhsschool.co.uk/home.php BHS School website]
*[http://www.bhs.co.uk/wedding/index.htm BHS Wedding Collection]
*[http://www.bhs.co.uk/stores.htm BHS UK Store Locator]
*[http://www.arcadiagroup.co.uk/promostores/arcadia/seven/ Seven Card website]
*[http://www.fashionretailacademy.ac.uk/ Fashion Retail Academy]
*[http://www.forbes.com/finance/lists/10/2004/LIR.jhtml?passListId=10&passYear=2004&passListType=Person&uniqueId=VINT&datatype=Person Forbes.com: World's Richest People]
*[http://www.guardian.co.uk/marks/story/0,,1335610,00.html An interview with Philip Green, in which he discusses his whole life]
*[http://business.timesonline.co.uk/tol/business/related_reports/entrepreneurs/article2222636.ece Times Online interview with Philip Green, December, 2007 (video)]
*[http://www.labourbehindthelabel.org/content/view/17/53/ Labour Behind the Label report on workers' rights in the production of clothes for Philip Green's Arcadia Group]
*[http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/business/4765030.stm Billions 'lost to tax avoidance']
*[http://yachts.monacoeye.com/yachtsbysize/pages/lionheartii01.html Lionheart" - photo of Green's new yacht]


{{DEFAULTSORT:Green, Philip}}
[[es:Películas de monstruos]]
[[Category:1952 births]]
[[zh:怪獸電影]]
[[Category:Living people]]
[[Category:People from Croydon]]
[[Category:English Jews]]
[[Category:British Jews]]
[[Category:British businesspeople in retailing]]
[[Category:Businesspeople in retailing]]
[[Category:English businesspeople]]
[[Category:British billionaires]]
[[Category:Knights Bachelor]]
[[Category:Businesspeople in fashion]]
[[Category:Everton F.C. directors and chairmen]]

Revision as of 16:19, 12 October 2008

For the author, see Philip Green (author). For the Star Trek villain, see Colonel Phillip Green.
Philip Green
Born (1952-03-15) March 15, 1952 (age 72)
Croydon, London, England
OccupationBusinessman

Sir Philip Green (born 15 March 1952) is a British billionaire businessman who owns some of the United Kingdom's largest retailers, including Bhs and the Arcadia Group. He is Britain's seventh richest man, with a total of 2300 shops in the UK and assets worth around £3.61bn. His assets currently control 12% of the UK clothing retail market, making his empire the second-largest in the sector. The leader, Marks and Spencer, has been the target of three unsuccessful takeover bids from Green.

Biography

Philip Green was born into a Jewish family on March 14, 1952 in Croydon, in South London, and has a sister, Elizabeth, five years his senior. The family moved to Hampstead Garden Suburb, 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.

First million

He made his first million by cleverly buying, turning around and finally selling a failing retailer called "Jean Jeannie". Buying the company for £65,000 plus debt, which he negotiated a goodwill gesture of £100,000 with the main lending bank to freeze repayments with as he tried to turn the business around, he ended up selling for £9 million of which he paid off its debt and walked away with £6 million. These early examples of entrepreneurship and clothes retailing expertise were to foreshadow his later bigger successes.

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; in 1992 he was forced to resign by the company's leading institutional shareholders. He has not led a quoted company since. Ever since, he has relied upon a close group of like-minded entrepreneurs, including Tom Hunter (a sports shoe millionaire and one of the richest men in Scotland) and the Barclay brothers, to help fund his buccaneering forays into the UK's High Streets.

1990s

In the early 1990s Green bought the department store chain Owen Owen 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 remaining. In 2004 this remaining store was sold off to David Thompson.

In 1995 he linked with Tom Hunter to buy sports retailler OLYMPUS, as part of a merger. The price was one British pound, 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.

BHS, Arcadia, Topshop

Green came to public attention in 1999 when he attempted to make a £7 billion hostile bid for Marks and Spencer. 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 purchased the ailing retail chain BHS 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, rebranded it as BHS, and the chain is now thought to be worth over £1.2 billion. Since he took over, profits have tripled to over £200 million a year.

Next, Green purchased 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. Recently he has added the Etam chain to the group. Green paid £850m, and repaid the £808m he borrowed to finance the deal in two years, a move that stunned commentators when it was announced. The Arcadia Group has been enormously profitable, and currently has pre-tax profits of around £380 million.

On October 20, 2005 Green awarded Arcadia shareholders a £1.3 billion dividend. He and his wife are joint owners of 92% of the group, and therefore received £1.17bn - the largest payout to an individual in British corporate history.

Other activities

Green has pumped more than £6m into education, of which the bulk has gone into The Fashion Retail Academy, a form of specially-funded further education establishment in the United Kingdom, for which he is the major sponsor. It now has over 200 students. 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.[1] He also provided the McCanns with the use of his private jet to allow them to fly to Rome for a Papal visit and back in time to put their twins to bed.[2]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 busy with Arcadia's attempted takeover of Marks and Spencer.[3]

Personal life

A UK resident, Green is based in the week at a London hotel, while his South African wife Christina is a Monaco resident with their children Chloe and Brandon, in a multi-million pound apartment.[4]

Green plays tennis with Prince Albert of Monaco and counts as his friends, David and Simon Reuben, Lord Hanson, Tom Hunter, Mohamed al-Fayed of Harrods, Ian Grabiner, David Goodman, Whitecraigs fleeto, Paisley mafia Bill Kenwright, Simon Cowell and Michael Winner .[4]

Among Green's more extravagant items are a 208ft/£32 million Benetti yacht Lionheart[5] and a £20 million Gulfstream G550 private jet his wife gave him as a Chanukah present.[4] 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, and Cantor Gideon Zelermyer to perform.[6] For his 50th birthday he flew 200 guests in a chartered Boeing 747 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.[7]

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.[8]

Football Involvement

He is known to be a keen football fan and is a Tottenham Hotspur supporter. 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.[9]

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.[10]

He offers business advice to the club alongside Tesco CEO Terry Leahy and helps negotiates player transfer fees with agents.

Criticism

Tax avoidance

Despite being a prominent figure in UK retail and business, Philip Green has chosen to avoid paying tax in the UK. It is estimated that he and his family saved £300m in 2004–2005 by living partly in Monaco, where residents do not have to pay income tax.[11] Whilst some may see this as the prerogative of a successful and wealthy businessman, others have questioned the morals behind this decision saying it is motivated by greed and is a mean-spirited display of making money from the people of Britain whilst refusing to contribute.

An article in The Observer questioned the amount of the dividend the Greens paid themselves and the accumulated profits available for distribution.[12] Company law in the UK says that dividends can only be paid out of accumulated realised profits. According to the article, the Greens paid themselves a dividend of £1.14 billion (total dividends were £1,299 million), when the profit & loss statement showed a positive balance of £476 million.

Asset stripping

There have also been accusations that Philip Green is an asset-stripper as seen with his experiences with Owen Owen and the purchase of the UK arm of Etam which have seen a wide sell-off of stores. Philip Green denies this accusation.[13]

Worker rights

Arcadia has made almost no effort to make or demonstrate progress on paying many workers, both overseas and in the United Kingdom, more than a derisory wage and allowing them basic worker rights. Arcadia and Philip Green have been condemned by anti-sweatshop groups such as Labour behind the Label, No Sweat and the student activist network People and Planet.[citation needed] [1]

References

  1. ^ Harry Potter Author Adds To Reward |Sky News|MADELEINE
  2. ^ Finding Madeleine
  3. ^ The Apprentice is to real business what Monopoly is to property - Telegraph
  4. ^ a b c Profile: Philip Green: The fastest billionaire is on his Marks - Times Online
  5. ^ Philip Green's Lionheart Yacht - Luxist
  6. ^ BBC NEWS | UK | Billionaire hires Destiny's Child
  7. ^ Pack your shorts, it's time for Sir Philip Green's birthday party | Business | The Guardian
  8. ^ http://business.timesonline.co.uk/tol/business/related_reports/entrepreneurs/article2222636.ece
  9. ^ "Everton chief executive resigns". BBC.co.uk.
  10. ^ "Green at heart of Everton battle". thisismoney.co.uk.
  11. ^ "Retail genius to strike again". BBC. Retrieved 2007-08-12. {{cite news}}: Cite has empty unknown parameter: |coauthors= (help)
  12. ^ ‘Sir’ Philip Green - the rewards of tax avoidance « TaxNetUK - now at http://www.taxresearch.org.uk/Blog/
  13. ^ Spotlight: Day in the life of a deal maker - International Herald Tribune

External links and references

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