To think Philip green should be vilified

[GetInFormationLadies]

www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-36137574

For taking out so much in dividends and creating a huge pension black hole?

Does this mean that people with pensions might loose out while he runs away making millions?

[LitteRedSparkle]

so when he bought it, the pension fund had a £5m surplus, he sold it with debt, the people that bought it took out £8m (apparently £3m was shared between 4 people) and now the fund has a 500+million debt

bunch of wankers!

[megletthesecond]

Yanbu. Can't stand the man. I boycott top shop these days I wouldn't even buy the kate moss or Beyonce lines on principal. I really want some Ivy Park but I won't buckle.

[VertigoNun]

The tax payer and those with pensions funded his lifestyle as they do bankers, whilst our schoolls and NHS are being dismantled to justify austerity. buying banks and selling at a loss never mind tax payers can give cans to the food bank and victim blame.

[lasttimeround]

I'm shocked at the shamelessness of it. Might be legal but we all know a crook when we see one

[seasidesally]

i bought this up on the BHS thread yesterday and nobody seemed bothered

Robert maxwell traits it seems

[Hadalifeonce]

I thought after the Robert Maxwell debacle, that pension pots were protected from money grabbing despots.

[Hissy]

Oh yeah, this is the bloke that is registered as living abroad too right? Pays fuck all taxes?

He ought to be strung up for what he's done.

[Floisme]

This is Philip Green's new yacht. It's called Lionheart.

[Floisme]

No doubt there'll be someone along in a minute to tell me how hard he's worked for it.

[anniroc]

Absolutely. My husband is a pensions lawyer and says that the regulator could really go after him if they get their act together (he says that this might not happen as they're a bit rubbish). I find it odd that Topshop was allowed to go from strength to strength and be very innovative, yet nothing really changed at Bhs.

[Imperialleather2]

I absolutely agree. The taxpayer has in effect paid him his dividend.

Yes he lives in Monaco I believe. His wife earnt £800 million from arcadia one year and paid little if any tax on it here.

He just like the rest of them.
A bunch of cunts - sorry to offend but it has to be said.

[ShesAStar]

Selfish arsehole. I just finished reading an article about this and I cannot believe someone could be so utterly selfish. He's a billionaire - this money will not massively impact his life, what a fucking aresehole.

I really hope he sees fit to give back more than the 80 million he's offered.

[Floisme]

I was always curious about BHS too - the way he seemed happy to let it go into decline when he was clearly capable of running a profitable business. Turns out it was quite profitable after all - just only for him and the shareholders

And let's not forget how he was appointed by the coalition government to head up a review of government spending.

[howtorebuild]

He is one of many friends of the government.

[howtorebuild]

They are all in it together.

[Room101isWhereIUsedToLive]

Time for pitchforks and flaming torches. The system is corrupt and needs to be changed.

[LittleMissBossyBoots]

I thought after the Robert Maxwell debacle, that pension pots were protected from money grabbing despots.

I believe that only employee contributions are protected. Employer contributions are still fair game.

[0phelia]

He needs to lose his knighthood.

There's a petition out there somewhere. He is a cunt.

[grins]

YABU as you don't really know what you are talking about. The dividends were paid 10+ years ago and I believe the pension fund was in surplus then. The dividends came from the company, not the pension fund.

The PPF should go after Green to recover what it can, but portraying the pension deficit today, on a buyout basis (the most conservative way to look at it) to a dividend taken 11 years previously is unfair. FWIW, I think I read the pension fund only moved into deficit in 2009/10. It would have required tremendous foresight to know the global crash was going to happen in 2005.

[howtorebuild]

Posters on a stick doesn't work, nor do petitions.

[0phelia]

No cleaners at Arcadia are receiving a living wage. Arcadia abuses people in internship positions. His wife "Tina" apparently controls his business from Monaco which magically relieves him of all tax obligation. Cunt. And a mate of Tony Blair.

[AnotherEffingOrangeRevel]

YANBU.

He's far from alone though - the number of people doing similar things we know less about is likely to be very high.

Am I right that he has been an advisor to Cameron in the past?

[Longdistance]

I'll just leave this here...

[0phelia]

How will he lose his knighthood? The Guardian certainly won't back that sort of thing.