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Who's in and who's out
Gideon Spanier22 Dec 2008
Our annual magazine The 1,000: London's Most Influential chronicles London's power-brokers and
agenda-setters. However, in the capital influence can shift quickly. Gideon Spanier looks at who's in and who's out.
Making moves
Sport
Alisher Usmanov, 54
Arsenal investor
The Russian mogul already owns around a quarter of the club and now a big shareholding is up for grabs after director Nina Bracewell-Smith quit the boardroom in a rumoured bust-up.
In the spotlight
Sport
Giles Clarke, 55
English Cricket Board, chairman
Faces a host of problems: the row over the $20 million deal with US businessman Sir Allen Stanford, a mixed performance by the England team in India, and the debate over Twenty20 at home. Clarke will need the support of the counties to retain power.
New Entry
Property
Chris Grigg, 49
British Land CEO
The former Goldman Sachs banker arrives at one of Britain's top property firms with the market in crisis. Father-of-five Grigg takes over from another banker, Stephen Hester, who was poached to run Royal Bank of Scotland, and will be responsible for prime sites such as the Broadgate Tower in the City.
Under pressure
Business
Luke Johnson, 46
Channel 4 chairman
Faces a big headache at Channel 4, which has been running out of cash and is banking on the media regulator Ofcom to help. But C4's strategy is being openly questioned in media circles — and begging for public money could backfire if C4 ends up being taken over or privatised.
Counting the cost
Finance
Nicola Horlick, 47
Bramdean Asset Management
She is not the only fund manager to have got her fingers burnt by letting clients invest with Bernard Madoff but it still looks a bad misjudgment by City superwoman Horlick.
Trouble on the wireless
TV & Radio
Mark Damazer, 53
Radio 4, controller
Damazer is having to massage egos after Today presenter Ed Stourton was unceremoniously eased out in favour of North America editor Justin Webb. While he has done a decent job since 2004, insiders think the opera fan may be thinking about life beyond Radio 4.
