Simon Fuller, the entertainment svengali behind American Idol and David Beckham, launched a $1.3 billion (£656 million) bid yesterday to take private his employer CKX in conjunction with his boss, the US mogul Robert Sillerman.

Mr Fuller wants greater control at a company where the division he runs contributes the lion’s share of the overall profits but his rewards amounted to £846,000 pay in 2006 and a 1.6 per cent stake.

CKX runs Elvis’s Graceland mansion and owns the King’s image rights – as well as rights to exploit Muhammad Ali’s likeness. But these are dwarfed by 19 Entertainment, which the Briton founded in 1985.

Last year, 19 Entertainment generated 72 per cent of the company’s revenue, and its $28 million in operating profit exceeded the group’s $19.9 million, reflecting the impact of corporate overheads.

Mr Sillerman’s CKX bought 19 in 2005 for £83.7 million in cash, plus further payments in shares, from Simon Fuller, as part of a plan to create a media and celebrity rights group. Although that made Fuller a multimillionaire – he owned around three quarters of 19 – it also made him an employee. 19’s prime asset is its control of the rights to the Idol televised singing contest. American Idol is the most-watched prime time show in the US, with 30.7 million tuning in to the finale last week in which Jordin Sparks, 17, become the youngest winner. But to Britons, Mr Fuller is best known as the Spice Girls’ manager and, although they sacked him, he now works for the Beckhams as they try to crack America.

Yesterday, Mr Fuller was busy in a board meeting in New York to discuss the details of the deal, which leaked late on Thursday night. Last month, though, in an interview with The Times, Mr Fuller said he did not feel he was being exploited, but that “realising value is a smart thing to do”. However, he did indicate that he wanted to take charge of his own destiny after Mr Sillerman taught him “the financial world on a grand scale”.

Mr Fuller had been granted a profit share agreement that was yet to pay out, but is linked to CKX in a six-year contract, which expires in 2011 and involves a noncompete agreement. That ties him to CKX.

The duo, who are offering $13.75 a share – valuing the company at $1.33 billion – are understood to have secured private equity backing. The offer held a 29 per cent premium over the share price just prior to the leak. However, further details of the offer were not initially available – meaning that it is unclear how much equity Mr Sillerman and Mr Fuller would hold.

Mr Sillerman is a serial media entrepreneur with a following on Wall Street. He acquired a string of American concert venues, creating SFX Entertainment and selling it to Clear Channel for $3 billion in 2000. A few years previously he sold a group of radio stations to Hicks Muse for $2.1 billion.

Mr Sillerman owns 34.4 per cent of the company, meaning that the privatisation proposal is well placed to succed. Other managers, including Mr Fuller, take that total to 46.4 per cent. But to complete the deal, they will have to win the support of the New Jersey hedge fund manager Bill Huff, a long-time backer who owns just over 14 per cent. He is best known in Britain as the key investor behind NTL, the cable company now known as Virgin Media.

The timing of the move is a surprise, because CKX had been expected to concentrate on finding more celebrity rights to exploit, but the need to find a more suitable structure for Mr Fuller appears to have become a priority.

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