• Variety, Thursday, June 25, 2009 9:45 AM

American Idol's Simon Cowell is setting up a global entertainment company with U.K. retail entrepreneur Philip Green. The joint venture, to be based in Los Angeles and London, would encompass TV production, talent management and merchandising.

Cowell's talent show "X Factor" may bow in the U.S. as one of the enterprise's first ventures. Cowell also runs entertainment company Syco, a subsidiary of Sony Music Entertainment. The new venture would co-exist alongside Syco, with Cowell taking care of creative matters while Green handles the business side.

The two tycoons aim to take on "Hollywood moguls and U.S. entertainment corporations in their own backyard," says an insider. The venture would be Green's first in showbiz. One of the U.K.'s wealthiest men, Green built his estimated $6.6 billion fortune on a string of fashion stores.

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