Three former Carlton directors could be ousted from the ITV board by a group of shareholders angry over the directors’ decision to authorise a controversial £15 million payoff to Michael Green.
It is understood that Sir Brian Pitman, the most senior former Carlton director, will visit shareholders this week to explain why the broadcaster approved the payment which Green received after being ousted as ITV chairman designate.
Pitman will argue that the payment, which saw Green pocket £13.2 million in shares and £1.8 million in cash, was a payoff for loss of office and was far less than he was entitled to under the terms of his implied contract.
It is understood that Pitman’s defence of the payoff could decide his fate at the newly merged ITV, along with that of fellow Carlton remuneration committee executives, John McGrath and Etienne de Villiers, who also authorised the payments.
The remaining ITV board members, most of whom sat on the board of Granada, are unlikely to object should a coalition of institutional shareholders demand the resignation of the former Carlton directors.
Green was ousted as chairman designate of ITV last October by a group of investors led by Anthony Bolton, a fund manager at Fidelity. However, details of his payoff and a further £12 million of payments to other former executives only emerged last week, to the fury of shareholders (see Green Set To Go As Granada Withholds Support).
Reports suggest that the row over fat-cat payoffs could weaken ITV’s argument for cutting the £475 million a year it pays the Government in regulatory licence costs and to cover the use of the spectrum available for terrestrial channels (see SMG Television Boss Calls For End To ITV Super Tax).
