History of the Virgin Group. Biography of Richard Branson - success story, quotes, photos of Virgin Group
The businessman is famous for his participation in the space tourism project, his love of shocking the public, his passion for extreme travel and his penchant for adventurism.
His extravagant acts include appearing at the opening of his company's bridal salon in women's wedding attire, a record-breaking hot air balloon flight across the Pacific Ocean, a high-speed crossing of the English Channel in an amphibious vehicle, and a provocative photo shoot for Vanity Fair magazine.
The photograph in question took place in the Caribbean Sea off the coast of Sir Richard's Necker Island while he was kitesurfing with a completely naked South African supermodel Danny Parkinson sitting on the business tycoon's back.
Richard Branson's childhood and youth
The flamboyant billionaire was born on July 18, 1950 in southeast London in the Blackheath district to a lawyer-barrister and former flight attendant on airplanes. In addition to him, the couple had two younger daughters. Branson's father belonged to the noble class. He was the son of a judge of the Supreme Court of England and a privy councillor. 
Mrs. Branson had a great influence on the development and formation of the strong character of her son. Although the methods of her upbringing were not entirely clear. So, as a child, she gave him serious tests. For example, one day a woman dropped her 4-year-old son out of the car a few kilometers from home and told him to look for his dad, while she drove away.
Branson received his education in closed educational institutions, as befits a child from the family of a hereditary aristocrat. He initially attended Scaitcliffe, a boarding school for boys aged 6 to 13 in the small village of Egham, Surrey. Then, until the age of 16, he attended the Stowe boarding school, located one hundred kilometers from London in Buckinghamshire.
Having problems with learning ability due to dyslexia, he studied poorly, but even then he showed a penchant for extraordinary initiatives, which were strongly supported by his mother. For example, he made proposals for reforming existing school traditions and organizations to the director of his privileged educational institution, Robert Drayson.
In particular, the young man defended the idea of organizing a bar for high school students, repurposing the canteen into a buffet, saving on the number of employees, and abolishing the rule for all students to be present at football matches, arguing that forcing strong players to watch the success is unethical in relation to weaker schoolchildren . As a result, when the young man graduated from school in 1967, the director, saying goodbye, noted that in the future he would either go to prison or become a millionaire. As it turned out, the teacher was not mistaken.
The beginning of Richard Branson's career
The first successful project of the current oligarch was the release of a free magazine for youth audiences, Student, in 1968. Richard, together with a friend, managed to organize his payback at the expense of advertisers, attract attention and interview famous personalities, including Rolling Stones vocalist Mick Jagger, Scottish psychiatrist Ronald Laing, one of the founders of the Beatles John Lennon. Although the publication had to close about a year later due to low profits, Branson gained invaluable experience in running a business. 
In addition, in parallel with the publishing business, the young entrepreneur opened a charitable Student Consulting Center, which exists to this day, providing assistance in various fields (legal, psychological, medical).
Richard Branson and Virgin Group
Branson's next business project was the sale of popular sound recordings by mail. The name of the company Virgin (“Virgin”) was coined among his colleagues from Student.The year 1970 was successful for the company. But the next one will be unprofitable due to the strike of postal workers that swept across the country. As a result, Richard had the idea of opening his own music store, which he implemented in 1971 together with school friend Nick Powell, buying an estate north of Oxford for a studio.
The first release from Virgin Records was 19-year-old multi-instrumentalist Mike Oldfield's debut album, Tubular Bells, released in 1973. It became a bestseller, a leader in the British charts and received a Grammy music award, laying the financial foundation for the further successful development of the company.
Virgin entered into agreements with such dubious groups as the scandalous Sex Pistols, but at the same time, it opened to the public non-commercial experimental rock, present in the groups Faust and Can, and the melodic pop of the new wave group Culture Club. The company also collaborated with Sting, Janet Jackson, Phil Collins, Rolling Stones, Belinda Carlisle and other performers. In 1982, the company acquired the gay nightclub Heaven.
Richard Branson's business
In order to develop new areas of activity for the consortium, the tireless entrepreneur has created many other companies of various profiles under his brand since 1983. He opened enterprises involved in real estate, insurance, trade, film production, lending, mobile communication services, tourism, retail sales of books, alcoholic beverages, investments in environmental and health projects and others. 
In 1984, the businessman decided to found his own airline, Virgin Atlantic Airlines, then organized Virgin Express, Nigeria, and America airlines. Due to financial difficulties and the development of Atlantic, in 1992 he had to sell the Virgin label to EMI for 500 million pounds sterling (about $800 million). Wanting to stay in the music business that started the entire corporation, he later created the V2 record company.
In 2004, Branson announced Virgin Galactic's participation in a project to organize space travel. The company received applications for participation in suborbital flights from 500 potential tourists at a tour cost of 250 thousand dollars for one passenger. For the needs of “space tourism,” they opened the world’s first private “spaceport” in the desert of the Sierra state, New Mexico, and developed the SpaceShipTwo rocket plane.
Richard Branson and the Virgin Group: a love of flying
Despite the fact that at the end of 2014, during testing, this device crashed, during which one of the pilots died, the richest man in the United Kingdom announced his intention to develop his research. In an interview, he noted that he dreams of admiring the Earth from space, surviving the acceleration from zero to three and a half thousand miles per hour in just 8 seconds and experiencing fivefold overload.
In 2006, Branson announced his intention to invest profits from the Atlantic airline and the Trains rail transportation company (about $3 billion) to create environmentally friendly fuels. In 2007, he opened a company that provides storage services for umbilical cord blood stem cells, which can become health insurance for the customers' children and themselves throughout their lives.
Richard Branson's private Necker Island
In 2008, Sir Richard hosted a meeting of world leaders on his Necker Island in the Caribbean to discuss concepts for combating the problem of global warming. The event was attended by former British Prime Minister Tony Blair, American businessman and founder of the Wikipedia portal Jimmy Wales, and Google search engine developer Lawrence Page. Branson also established a $25 million prize for the creators of technologies that effectively counteract the greenhouse effect.
Richard Branson's records
The billionaire, who has been described as both a hippie and an adrenaline junkie, has also become famous for his attempts to break some world records, despite the risk of such undertakings. So in 1985, he attempted to win the Atlantic Blue Ribbon prize, which is awarded to ships that cross the Atlantic Ocean in record time. As a result, his ship sank, and he was rescued by a British Air Force helicopter. A year later, he finally broke the record, covering the distance 2 hours faster than the previous record holder. 
Two years later, for the first time in history, he crossed the Atlantic in the largest balloon, with a volume of 65 thousand cubic meters, flying at a speed of more than 200 kilometers per hour.
In 1991, he flew from Japan to Canada over the Pacific Ocean on a balloon with a volume of 74 thousand corresponding units. During the flight, Branson covered 11 thousand kilometers. At the same time, he set a new speed record (about 400 kilometers per hour).
Richard Branson dressed up as a flight attendant
In 2004, the oligarch also broke the speed record for crossing the English Channel. Moreover, he accomplished it in an amphibious vehicle (in one hour 40 minutes 6 seconds), almost quadrupling the previous achievement (6 hours).
Personal life of Richard Branson
An adventurous and active lifestyle did not interfere with Richard’s personal life. His first marriage occurred during the birth of Virgin. He married Kristen Tomassi, the marriage did not last long. A friend could not stand the constant phone calls that accompanied the life of a novice businessman. They parted as friends. 
The billionaire's current second wife is named Joan. He met her in an antique store, then, despite her marriage, courted her for a year. As a result, she left her husband and moved in with a persistent admirer. In 1979, their daughter Claire Sarah was born, who, unfortunately, lived only 4 days. But the couple did not break up and did not give up trying to have offspring. A year later, their daughter Holly was born, and 4 years later, she had a brother, Sam.
The daughter of a business tycoon is a pediatrician, his son is involved in a film production company.
Despite the nickname "Lionheart", Sir Richard is very kind to his children. At Christmas 2015, Holly gave him twin grandchildren, and two months later Sam had a son.
They have known Prince William and Harry since childhood, since Sir Richard was on friendly terms with Princess Diana. She and her children loved to relax on his island.
The billionaire's autobiographical book, Losing My Virginity, published in 1998, became an international bestseller. He received a personal knighthood in 1999 for his contribution to entrepreneurship.
Richard Branson today
Richard considers it his life credo to do only what brings pleasure and arouses interest, regardless of the lack of knowledge or experience in any field. He believes that life is too short to waste it on uninteresting things.Currently, he sponsors developments in the field of ecology, projects for the protection of the jungle, which plays a decisive role in shaping the planet’s climate, as well as the “Elders” organization, designed to find ways to resolve world conflicts.
Virgin Galactic, in partnership with communications startup OneWeb, also intends to introduce space Internet. Branson has signed a contract to launch 39 commercial satellites that will be used to provide global access to the Internet. The cost of the contract has not been disclosed, but experts estimate it to be around $390 million. In addition, the companies reached an agreement on further cooperation and the launch of another hundred microsatellites. Virgin plans to use LauncherOne to launch them into orbit. The first launches are planned for 2017. The French company Arianespace is participating in the project, which has committed to carry out 21 launches using Soyuz launch vehicles.
Richard Branson TED Interview
In 2015, the business magnate, having sold his house in Oxfordshire to his children, moved permanently to a luxurious mansion on Necker Island in the British Virgin Islands, where he has at his disposal the Necker Belle yacht, the Necker Nymph submarine and does not have to pay taxes.
How Richard Branson built a 300-company conglomerate from scratch
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The site's observer studied the history of the formation of Richard Branson and his Virgin group of companies, which is involved in many areas of business - from mobile communications to space flights. The material tells how adventurism, love of risk and perseverance made Branson one of the world's most talked about entrepreneurs.
Richard Branson is perhaps one of the most prominent entrepreneurs of our time. His company is akin to the billionaire himself - a shining example of success, created through an unconventional culture, risky business models and a clear understanding of necessary trends.
At the moment, the Virgin Group is a conglomerate that includes recording studios, music stores, an airline, space tourism, its own publications and much more. The founder of the company did all this, in fact, on his own, fulfilling his main rule - “to hell with everything, get on and do it.”
One of the company's main advantages was the use of the latest British trains, the Class 390 Pendolino. However, in 2007, Virgin Trains suffered serious trouble when a train crashed near the town of Grayrigg. 88 passengers were injured and one died. This incident caused serious resonance in society.
In order to soften the blow to the company, Richard Branson hastened to pay compensation to the victims, and he himself made a statement in which he promised to improve the infrastructure and trains. These promises were kept, increasing public confidence.
Gradually, the number of Virgin Trains services increased - largely due to the increase in the number of transport trains to 86. The company continued its growth as part of the Virgin Rail Group. In 2014, the income of a group of companies in this area reached $465 million per month.
Virgin Trains is currently one of the best train companies in the UK and is seeking a further extension to its contract with the government's Department of Transport, which ends in 2017.
In 1999, another conglomerate company, Virgin Mobile, began operating. Branson cited the need to provide high-quality cellular communications throughout the world as the reason for its founding. The company is the world's first virtual mobile operator, which, without having its own towers, uses the networks of existing ones.
Richard Branson is a bright personality, a man who is used to challenging. He did poorly at school due to dyslexia and created his own magazine. He crossed the Atlantic in a hot air balloon and dressed as a woman. Now owns more than 350 companies around the world, united under the Virgin brand.
He has circumnavigated the world, broken speed records, sent people into space, lived on a houseboat, built a submarine, performed in a wedding dress, competed for Coca-Cola, showed his bare bottom in advertising, rescued British hostages and helped Kuwaiti refugees... And this is not a complete list of Richard Branson's extraordinary actions. The history of business development is riddled with eccentric antics and rebellious actions.
Who is he: Sir Richard Charles Nicholas Branson is a famous British tycoon whose fortune in 2016 was estimated at $5.1 billion. Founder and owner of the diversified corporation Virgin Group, under whose brand more than three hundred different companies are united.
In the photo: Richard Branson builds a Virgin-style business according to his own rules
In Russia, Richard Branson gained fame thanks to his books in which he talks about business, describes his biography, gives motivating advice and shares his own rules of success. His most famous books: “To hell with everything! Take it and do it!”, “Losing your virginity”, “Reaching the sky”, “Business in the Virgin style”, “My rules”, “To hell with business as usual”, “Naked business” and others.
Businessman with diaper
The future billionaire was born on July 18, 1950 in the Blackheath area of London. Branson's mother constantly came up with ways to earn extra money: she organized a business in her own garage and at home. Her unstoppable will and tenacity in achieving her goals had a huge impact on Richard.
Childhood photo of Richard Branson - future billionaire
Branson studied at a private school, and teachers considered him behind, and even lazy. The reason for this was dyslexia - it was difficult for the boy to master reading and writing skills. At the age of 8, he still couldn’t even read. Henry Ford, a world legend in the automotive industry, suffered from the same disease.
At 9 (!) years old, Ricky decided to start a business selling Christmas trees. A friend and I bought seeds, dug holes and planted spruce trees. But the rabbits dug up the seeds and ate them. Then Richard realized that money doesn't grow on trees.
The following Christmas, he came up with the idea of breeding and selling budgies. The father even built an aviary for these purposes, but even here the boy failed - the demand was low, and after some time rats attacked the aviary and destroyed the birds.
At the age of 15, he decided to leave school and implement another business idea together with a friend - to create a magazine for young people. The boy's parents supported him, deciding that he would only attend ancient history classes that brought him pleasure.
His life credo: do what makes you happy. He admits that he never made plans to become rich. All he wants is to enjoy life and overcome challenges.
In the photo: Richard Branson: “I achieved everything I dreamed of at 20”
The first success in entrepreneurship was the magazine for British youth “Student”, on the creation of which Branson and a friend worked in the basement of a friend’s parents’ house in London. For days on end, Richard would call potential advertisers from a pay phone and offer placements in his as-yet-defunct magazine. Together with a friend, they sent hundreds of letters offering advertising space (Richard’s mother gave the money to buy stamps).
They met celebrities and interviewed them. Branson was able to talk with James Baldwin, Jean-Paul Sartre, Mick Jagger, John Lennon and many others.
Back then, Branson didn’t think about how celebrities of this magnitude agreed to talk to a 16-year-old teenager and publish for free in Student magazine. He just took it and did it, just like everything else in his life and business.
In the photo: Branson with the fruit of his first serious endeavor - Student magazine
Richard writes about those times that their lives turned into brilliant chaos, a party that never ends. They drank beer, met girls and interviewed celebrities, but they also worked hard.
Branson hasn't read any business books or gone to business school; he believes that rules are meant to be broken. He admits that if he had begun to delve into all the pros and cons of entrepreneurship, he would never have dared to start a business. For several years, Branson and his wife lived on a houseboat. The main places for work were: house, yacht, hammock.
Advertisers appeared, the first thirty thousand copies of the Student magazine, received from the printing house, had to be sold. Branson recruited students by offering them a pack of magazines at half price, and they could keep the profits. Some students borrowed magazines for sale and often forgot to repay the loan. But it didn't matter. The main thing is that the magazine gained popularity and people learned about it.
When the circulation became huge, the friends decided to expand the business and sell records. They placed the first ad in the latest issue of the magazine. It was decided to open a record store. Friends agreed with the owner of a shoe store to give them free space...
The birth of a "virgin"
The question arose of what to name the future record store and the brand as a whole. The comrades were looking over their options. This is how the name of the legendary brand was born - Virgin, which translates from English as “virgin”.
At a party in the late 70s, Branson was asked if he named his business after the Virgin Islands? He replies that at that time he had never been to the Virgin Islands, and named his company that way because he himself was a virgin in business at that time. Later, the businessman bought Necker Island, located in the Virgin Islands.
Regions of presence of Virgin Group companies: Africa, Asia, Australia, Canada, Europe, Latin America, Middle East, Russia (Internet provider), Great Britain, USA.
The total turnover amounts to tens of billions of dollars and continues to grow ($24 billion in 2012).
Personal life
Branson is married for the second time and has two children. He admits that his wife Joan, with whom he has been together for more than 40 years, supports all his crazy ideas and endeavors and he is happy that he met such a woman in his life. He has two children: daughter Holly and son Samuel.
In the photo: The wedding of Richard Branson and Joan Templeman
