Adam Crozier | MediaGuardian 100 2012
Job: chief executive, ITV
Age: 48
Industry: broadcasting
2011 ranking: 22
Almost halfway through his much-publicised transformation plan to revitalise ITV, Adam Crozier is starting to repay the faith the board put in him by promising to pay him as much as £16m over five years.
Arguably the biggest cause for cheer is the turnaround at ITV Studios, the production division responsible for shows including Emmerdale, Coronation Street, Titanic and Come Dine With Me.
While some argue that "frontloading" income into the first half of this year has skewed ITV Studios' performance, production revenues and profits are up a third – results his predecessors Michael Grade and Charles Allen failed to achieve.
Crozier has wiped out the company's debt – which stood at more than £600m in 2009 – and with £1bn burning a hole in the balance sheet ITV has been looking at acquiring independent producers to bolster ITV Studios.
ITV has kicked the tires of All3Media, the company behind Shameless and Skins, and Endemol, producer of The Cube and Big Brother. But only relatively smaller fare has been snapped up so far – Graham Norton's So Television for up to £17m the most recent – and ITV continues to pursue its interest in Have I Got News For You maker Hat Trick.
A boost in online, pay and interactive revenues of a quarter also shows that video-on-demand service ITV Player is starting to gather pace, especially on mobile devices.
However, the £47m in revenue netted in the first half is still a small fraction of the £1.28bn total ITV revenue for the first half of 2012.
ITV managed to get a third off the price of renewing its £90m FA Cup TV rights deal, but there remains the issue of its dependence on The X Factor.
Ratings for the latest series of Simon Cowell's flagship show are down so far, as it struggled for viewers' attention with sunny late summer weather and the Olympics and Paralympics.
Despite this, the City has reacted positively to ITV's performance.