Damon Buffini: BBC appoints private equity boss to make it more commercial

Former Pemira chief named deputy chair as government overhauls licence fee

The BBC has appointed one of the UK's most well-known private equity barons, Sir Damon Buffini, as its deputy chair in the latest move to sharpen the corporation's commercial focus as the government pursues an overhaul of the licence fee.

The 60-year-old, a founding partner of the global investment firm Permira for more than a decade until 2010, joins chair and ex-Goldman Sachs banker Richard Sharp to plot the financial future of the BBC as it seeks to drive commercial revenues before a crucial renewal of the corporation's royal charter in five years' time.