Former Google executive Matt Brittin is expected to be the next director-general of the BBC.
He would follow in the footsteps of the outgoing Tim Davie, who has held the position for nearly six years. And yes, despite a female deputy director-general in 2016 – Anne Bulford – all 16 who came before have been men.
An Olympian, former media executive, and rumoured Doctor Who fan, here’s everything we know about the man widely thought to be about to move into W1A to take on one of the most demanding jobs in Britain.
On himself
First off, let’s see what Matt Brittin has to say about himself.
In the ‘About’ section on his LinkedIn profile, the 57-year-old describes himself as: “Tall, energetic, British. Above average at sitting down sports.” Apparently, he’s 6ft 3ins.
Brittin also calls himself a “gap year student,” referring to the “mini-gap year” he took after stepping down from global tech corporation Google last year, a “part time athlete” in a nod to his previous Olympic achievements (see below), and a proponent for “tech for good”, hinting at his hopes to “harness the huge potential of AI for good in an ever more turbulent world”.
In a post announcing he had stepped down from Google at the start of 2025, he wrote: “I love to read, learn and try new things. I’ve already grown a beard, bought a single sculling boat and plan to learn scuba diving from my son when he qualifies as an instructor.”
While the current status of the boat and scuba is unknown, the beard appears to have been short-lived.
Where did it all start?
Born in Walton-on-Thames, an affluent market town in Surrey, England, Brittin won a scholarship to the independent Hampton School before studying at Cambridge, where he read Land Economy and Geography.
He was the first one in his family to go to university and went on to do an MBA in business at…
