BBC Worldwide

ABOUT US

BBC Worldwide is the main commercial arm and a wholly owned subsidiary of the British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC). Its mission is to create, acquire, develop and exploit media content and brands around the world in order to maximise the value of the BBC's assets for the benefit of the UK licence payer.

The company has seven core businesses: Channels, Content & Production, Digital Media, Sales & Distribution,Magazines and Children's & Licensing, Home Entertainment and Global Brands.

In 2009/10 BBC Worldwide generated profits of £145m  (before specific items) on revenues of £1074m.

BBC Worldwide operates under the BBC Charter and Agreement, which sets out four commercial criteria with which our activities must comply. BBC Worldwide's activities must:

• Fit with the BBC's Public Purposes as set out in the Charter;
• Be commercially efficient;
• Not jeopardise the good reputation of the BBC or the value of the BBC brand
• Comply with the BBC's Fair Trading Guidelines and avoid distorting the market

BBC Worldwide provides a global showcase for the best of British creative talent including actors, journalists, presenters, writers, directors, musicians, designers and technicians. We sell programmes and formats produced by more than 500 different UK independent producers. Through our activities we build the reputation of the BBC globally and in April 2009 we were awarded the Queen's Award for Enterprise which recognised the company's substantial growth in overseas earnings over the past three years.

Over the past five years we have invested more than £1bn in the UK's creative sector, making BBC Worldwide a major supporter of this increasingly important area of 'UK plc'.

BBC Worldwide operates to the highest standards of ethical practice. The BBC Worldwide Ethical Policy Code of Conduct has been in place since 2006 and all licensees and suppliers must sign up to this before they can work with us.

THE BOARD

Details of the Executive and Non-executive Directors that make up our Board can be found below. Click on the provided links to go to a biography for that person.
Click here for the formal roles and responsibilities of the Chairman and Chief Executive.

HOW THE BOARD OPERATES

The BBC Worldwide Board has established four committees:

• Audit committee;
• Executive committee (WEX);
• Nominations committee; and
• Remuneration committee.

The terms of reference for these committees can be found by clicking on their names above. An explanation of how the Board operates is contained within the Corporate Governance Report of the Annual Review.

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NON-EXECUTIVE CHAIRMAN	EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR
Robert Webb QCNon-executive Chairman View Robert's biography here >	John Smith Chief Executive View John's biography here >

NON-EXECUTIVE DIRECTORS

Simon CliftNon-executive Director View Simon's biography here >	Nicholas EldredBBC Group General Counsel BBC Non-executive Director View Nicholas' biography here >	Sharon Baylay BBC Director, Marketing, Communications & Audiences BBC Non-executive Director View Sharon's biography here >

Thomas GeitnerNon-executive Director View Thomas' biography here >	Zarin PatelBBC Chief Financial Officer BBC Non-executive Director View Zarin's biography here >