A former Goldman Sachs banker who was once the boss of UK finance minister Rishi Sunak is to be named as the new chairman of the BBC.
Sky News is reporting the appointment of Richard Sharp as the successor to Sir David Clementi could be made as soon as Thursday.
Mr Sharp has spent much of the past year as an unpaid advisor to Mr Sunak on the government’s economic response to the coronavirus pandemic. He has also spent a number of years on the Bank of England’s Financial Policy Committee.
The pick by culture secretary Oliver Dowden will need the sign off by prime minister Boris Johnson.
Mr Sharp’s arrival comes at a time when the BBC is under pressure both politically and from commercial rivals that include Sky, Netflix and Amazon Prime.
“The BBC faces political pressureand from growing competition and content costs,” Patrick Barwise, co-author, The War Against the BBC,” told Broadband TV News. “But its biggest challenge is having to face all this with already a 30% cut in its real public funding since 2010.”
Away from banking Mr Sharp chaired the Royal Academy of Arts Trust for several years and founded Kyra, a YouTube channel for the so-called Gen-Z.
