CHRIS WRIGHT, the colourful chairman of Chrysalis who once blew part of his fortune on buying his favourite football club, yesterday boosted his finances with the £45 million sale of Chrysalis’s television business. The 58-year-old chairman — who holds a 4.4 per cent stake in the media company he co-founded in 1987 — will not be sorry to see the back of TV production, where competition is fierce and margins low, and will now be free to focus on music and radio.
Mr Wright was drawn to the music business during his days at Bristol University, where he organised entertainment for his fellow students. But it is the opportunities in radio that excite him these days. His Heart and Galaxy brands continue to grow, and the new Communications Act should herald a wave of consolidation in the commercial radio sector.
He likes nothing better than playing tennis and watching his racehorses and favourite sports teams. It was this passion that led him to buy Queens Park Rangers in 1996 but death threats from dissatisfied fans eventually sapped his enthusiasm.