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Launch of Beyonces' Ivy Park fashion range at Topshop, Oxford Circus, London. Picture: Splash.
TO some he is the only “rock star†of British business, the king of shops with the Midas touch who conquered the rag trade and parties with Kate Moss.
But to others he is the most vulgar man on the high street, a belligerent bully obsessed with money who tramples on anyone who gets in his way, reports The Sun.
And it is the latter who have come to the fore this week as Sir Philip Green is blamed for the collapse of BHS. He bought the retail giant in 2000 and sold it last March for 1 pound to a group of inexperienced investors.
More than 11,000 jobs are at risk — many low paid — together with a 571 million pounds ($1,074) pensions black hole.
Phillip Green is known for his Midas touch when it comes to working retail wonders. Picture: Splash.Source:Supplied
The billionaire is facing calls to be stripped of his knighthood if he does not pay back some of the hundreds of millions he trousered from BHS.
He has offered up 80 million pounds. But the pensions regulator is considering whether to go after him for what experts say could be up to 300 million pounds — a sum he could perhaps find if he flogged his three yachts.
Sir Philip, 64, made his fortune turning around BHS, which he bought for 200 million pounds in 2000 — when the company’s pension fund was in surplus. Two years later, he was making 100 million pounds in profits.
Chloe Green, Phillip Green’s daughter, is the Topshop heiress. Picture: Twitter.Source:Supplied
A large chunk of that was garnered between 2002 and 2004 when shareholders took out just over £422 million in dividends, the bulk of which went to the Greens.
In 2002 Sir Philip acquired retail group Arcadia, which included fashion stores Topshop, Topman, Dorothy Perkins, Wallis, Evans, Burton and Miss Selfridge.
Three years later he had made so much money with Arcadia that he handed his wife Tina a then-record dividend of 1.2 billion pounds.
The success was hard-won, driven by a strategy of uncompromising deals that “petrified†and “intimidated†businessmen and bankers, occasionally reducing them to quivering wrecks. One person who worked with him recalls seeing bankers driven from his office in tears.
Phillip’s daughter Chloe Green used to date singer Marc Anthony. Picture: Splash.Source:Supplied
For his 50th birthday he blew 5 million pounds flying 200 pals including Jeremy Beadle and Prince Albert of Monaco to Cyprus for a toga party.
There he held court dressed as The Emperor — his chosen nickname. One observer unkindly observed he looked more like “a physically challenged Neroâ€.
Five years later, he held a five-day extravaganza on a private island in the Maldives to mark his 55th.
Instead of an invitation, his 200 guests got a “travel wallet†containing instructions to pack shorts and prepare for a long flight. They were then treated to a surprise all-expenses trip to the Indian Ocean with performances by George Michael, Jennifer Lopez and Ricky Martin.
This story first appeared in The Sun.