The money trail

I'm still struggling with where the money the BBC pumps into Salford ends up.   Yesterday, they announced a £10m three-year deal with The Farm to provide staff (usually called "talent") to help with post-production across three buildings.  There are apparently 50 edit desks, booths and suites to be manned.  If they just use 50 people to cover them, that's £66,666 p.a. per person.   Clearly most of the base salary will end up in and around Manchester.

But The Farm is based in Soho Square, W1. It's current "talent" roster of 230 work there, with some also off Dean Street, off Berwick Street, in Bristol and Los Angeles.   And it is a subsidiary of WPP, which has its tax headquarters in Dublin - though boss Sir Martin Sorrell is proposing a move back to the UK "some time after 2012".