Michael Bishop (businessman)
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The Lord Glendonbrook CBE |
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|---|---|
| Member of the House of Lords | |
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Assumed office 22 March 2011 |
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| Personal details | |
| Born |
Michael David Bishop 10 February 1942 (age 75) Bowdon, Cheshire, England |
| Nationality | British |
| Political party | Conservative |
| Occupation | Businessman |
| Net worth |
 £200 million (2013) |
Michael David Bishop, Baron Glendonbrook, CBE (born 10 February 1942) is a British businessman and life peer who rose to prominence as owner of the airline BMI. He sold his stake in the airline to Lufthansa on 1 July 2009 and has an estimated personal fortune of £280 million. He was one of the country's first openly gay senior executives.
Michael Bishop was born in Bowdon, Greater Manchester, then part of Cheshire, next to Manchester Airport. The son of a factory boss, aged six he was given a pleasure flight, and in 1949 his parents took him on an Aer Lingus flight to Dublin in search of chocolate, a rarity in the post-war rationing in Manchester.
Educated at the independent Mill Hill School in north London, he enjoyed flying and as a result took a series of school holiday jobs with an aerial photographer.
In 1963, Bishop joined the ground handling operation of Manchester-based Mercury Airlines, a schedule and charter airline, which was taken over by British Midland Airways (later re-branded as BMI) in October 1964. Bishop joined British Midland, and rose to become General Manager of the airline in 1969 and Managing Director in 1972.
In 1978, the London-based Minster Assets investment group, which owned British Midland, decided to sell its stake. With the help of an entrepreneurial Californian dentist, Bishop raised £2.5 million to lead the management buy-out, and was subsequently appointed chairman: "I had to borrow the money from an American citizen. Most venture capitalists want a return of 40% to make up for all their other failures, and they want an exit strategy." From 1969 he was the key driving force behind the steady growth of the airline, which held eleven percent of the landing and take-off slots at London Heathrow airport, second only to British Airways, with a route network spanning Europe, North America, Asia and Africa.
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