Cowell and Green to create global media conglomerate

Simon Cowell and Sir Philip Green are set to join forces in a bid to create a media business to rival Disney - but the pair have some work to do to emulate Disney's fluffy image. Neither man is renowned for a generosity of spirit, which makes their potential union a frightening one for those who will be dealing with the pair.
 
But it seems that it's the Top Shop owner who has been 'putting the hurt' on people rather more successfully than the acerbic talent show judge.
 
According to industry insiders: "Sir Philip Green has basically been acting as Cowell's manager... He has been turning up at meetings and acting as bad cop to Cowell's good cop. Green has been using his financial expertise to try to crowbar a few extra million out of people who [Cowell's] already contracted to."
 
Cowell is expected to use Green's powers of persuasion to renegotiate deals with the likes of Sony BMG and ITV that will allow him and Green to effectively own the brands Cowell is associated with - The X Factor and the Got Talent format.
 
The pair, both self-made men, hope to have as much control over their products as the likes of Oprah Winfrey who runs her TV show and has spin-offs including the women's magazine, O. By getting Green on board, Cowell intends to ratchet up the business opportunities available to him: X-Factor retail stores are already being mooted.
 
Of the pair, Green may hold sway in the money stakes - he has a fortune of £4.3bn compared to Cowell's meagre £120m - but Cowell is better known to the public. A poll of schoolchildren last year discovered he was more famous than the Queen and God. ·