BBC Worldwide: Commercial arm that made £660m selling corporation's 'brand'

The importance the BBC attaches to its commercial arm BBC Worldwide is best demonstrated by the remuneration of its chief executive, Rupert Gavin. He sits with the BBC's senior staff on the executive committee on a salary of £270,000 (plus £50,000 bonus and £19,000 benefits), which is second only to that of the director general, Greg Dyke, (salary of £357,000, plus £97,000 bonus and £15,000 benefits).

Last year, BBC Worldwide generated sales of £660m, returning £106m to BBC coffers. It was founded eight years ago, replacing the previous commercial arm, BBC Enterprises, and has since aggressively pursued the remit laid down for it by government – to capitalise on the BBC's intellectual assets within the limits of agreed fair trading.

The worldwide sales of BBC hits such as Teletubbies, The Weakest Link and Walking with Dinosaurs is central to its income generation. The BBC's television export business is now the biggest outside America and won it a Queen's Award for Enterprise last year.

But under Mr Gavin, it has also proved adept at spotting the commercial potential of offshoots including books, videos and toys. In magazines, for instance, it is now Britain's third largest publisher with one in five adults reading a BBC title every month.

Sales grew last year by 12 per cent, double-figure growth for the third year running and ahead of projections. The commercial arm is on course to invest £210m back into the BBC by 2006-07.

Two thousand staff work for BBC Worldwide, selling programmes and associated products that are intended to uphold "the intrinsic qualities of the BBC brand", a spokeswoman said. "It is essential that commercial activities complement, and do not distort, our core public purposes." The commercial emphasis is illustrated by Mr Gavin's background in business, not television.

He joined the BBC in 1998 from BT, where he was managing director of BT's consumer division, a £6bn turnover business with a staff of 30,000, having previously led its multimedia development programme. Mr Gavinstarted his career as an advertising copywriter before moving into retail and becoming deputy managing director of Dixons Stores.