Carlton chief lies low as he nets £14m 'incentive'

Michael Green may be one of the most powerful and overbearing personalities in British television. But the chairman of the Carlton television company does have his moments of shyness, such as the day he announced a giant merger with a rival broadcaster in 1999. Too reticent to face the ranks of photographers, he skulked off through a back window.

The self-made multimillionaire had one of his sheepish days yesterday as details emerged of an incentive scheme that should net Mr Green, already thought to be worth £100m, another £14m. Judging by the reaction of some to his potential windfall, he was right to lie low.

Carlton shares have lost three-quarters of their value in the last year, thanks to the advertising recession and the company's disappointing investment in ITV's digital platform. Things should only get better and if the shares double, Mr Green, 54, can cash in – although not until 2006.

Pirc, the shareholder activist group, thinks the latest enrichment plan for Mr Green raises serious concerns. Although the scheme is dependent on Carlton's future share price performance, Pirc says the targets the company must meet are "unchallenging. We regard this level of payout as representing a particularly excessive reward for average performance," the group said.

But other shareholders have not forgotten that Carlton would not exist without Mr Green. Having left school with four O-levels to start a printing business with his brother, he was a millionaire by the age of 21. Mixing it in the heady days of the Thatcherite liberalisation of the commercial television industry in the 1980s, he built his company from nothing to be a major force in the sector. In effect, Mr Green is now one of two joint-owners, with Granada, of ITV.

But the failure last year of Mr Green's planned merger with rival United News & Media was certainly a setback for a man used to getting his way. Regulators judged that the deal would give him too much power over commercial terrestrial television in Britain.

In any case, there were serious doubts in the City about Mr Green's ability to share a boardroom with United's chief executive, Lord Hollick, a New Labour peer and another big personality.

Over the years, Mr Green has certainly built himself a fearsome reputation. Although admired for being a great ideas man, tales of the unlucky employees and competitors (not to mention journalists) finding themselves at the end of a withering verbal assault – often delivered in public – are legion. ITV, originally split into numerous companies, was a notorious hothouse for back-biting and feuding and Mr Green, with rivals such as Greg Dyke (now director general of the BBC) was in the thick of it.

As a classic entrepreneur, Mr Green has dominated Carlton as both chairman and chief executive. Under pressure from the City, he belatedly brought in an outside chief executive, Steven Cain, in 1998. Mr Cain did not last long, as Mr Green held firmly to the reins of power as executive chairman.

More recently, signs have emerged that his grip is beginning to loosen, with a new more confident chief executive, Gerry Murphy, working under him. Mr Murphy is promoted as the public face of the business (Mr Cain was known as the invisible man) but few doubt that Mr Green still calls many of the shots in the boardroom.