Sir Richard Charles Nicholas Branson is an English business magnate, investor, author and philanthropist. He is the founder of world renowned "VIRGIN" group which controls 350 plus companies. His real time net worth is $4.2B
Branson expressed his desire to become an entrepreneur at a young age. His first business venture, at the age of 16, was a magazine called Student. In 1970, he set up a mail-order record business. He opened a chain of record stores, Virgin Records—later known as Virgin Megastores—in 1972. Branson's Virgin brand grew rapidly during the 1980s, as he set up Virgin Atlantic airline and expanded the Virgin Records music label. In 2004, he founded spaceflight corporation Virgin Galactic, based at Mojave Air and Space Port, noted for the SpaceShipTwo suborbital spaceplane designed for space tourism.
A short trip to his life :
(i) He was born on 18 July 1950, at London, currently living at Necker Island, British Virgin Islands
(ii) The son of a barrister and flight attendant, Branson got his start with a mail-order record business some 50 years ago.
(iii) Education : High School drop out.
(iv) Richard Branson owes his fortune to a conglomerate of businesses bearing the "Virgin" brand name, including Virgin Atlantic and Virgin Galactic.
(v) Alaska Air acquired his Virgin America airline in 2016, a move he opposed but didn't have the votes to stop.
(vi) Branson is getting into the cruise business with Virgin Voyages, expected to take its first passengers in 2020.
"Believe in your idea through and through and, if you fail, fail forward."
In March 2000, Branson was knighted at Buckingham Palace for "services to entrepreneurship".In 2007, he was placed in Time magazine's list of the 100 Most Influential People in The World.
Early Life and his turning point
Branson has dyslexia, also known as reading disorder, which made him to struggle hard in school. Due to his disorder, his academic performance was poor, he decided to drop out. His parents were supportive of his endeavours from an early age. On his last day at school, his headmaster told him he would either end up in prison or become a millionare.
After the drop-out, he focused on business, and after several failed attempts,he finally launched his first succesfull business, a magazine, named "STUDENT' in 1966. he first issue of Student appeared in January 1968, and a year later, Branson's net worth was estimated at £50,000.Branson started his record business from the church where he ran Student magazine. He interviewed several prominent personalities of the late 1960s for the magazine. Branson advertised popular records in Student, and it was an overnight success.
There is no point in starting your own business unless you do it out of a sense of frustration.
Virgin Records and Virgin Atlantic
He was earning good money from his record store and with this confidence Branson in 1972 launched the record label Virgin Records with Nik Powell. The name " Virgin" was suggested by one of his employees because all his early employees were new at business. He then brought a country estate and installed his residential recording studio "The Manor Studio"from where many of his bestsellers were born. He then entered railway business under the name "Virgin Trains".
Branson's first successful entry into the airline industry was during a trip to Puerto Rico. His flight was canceled, so he decided to charter his own plane the rest of the way and offer a ride to the rest of the stranded passengers for a small fee in order to cover the cost. After this incident, Branson formed Virgin Atlantic Airways and Virgin Cargo in 1984. He formed Virgin Holidays in 1985. Virgin also acquired European short-haul airline Euro Belgian Airlines and renamed it Virgin Express.
Virgin Atlantic now holds a fleet size of 46 aircrafts and with 33 destinations around the world.
In early 1990's, British Airways saw Virgin Atlantic as the emerging competitor and hence started a series of problems between the two. But the Virgin Atlantic won over British Airways and they were forced to pay a huge amount to Virgin Atlantic and to Branson. He distributed this money to his employees under the name "BA Bonus".
He then launched Virgin Australia (formerly Virgin Blue) in Australia in 2000, which is now Australia's second largest airline after Qantas and has a fleet strength of 101 aircrafts and 52 destinations world wide.
Honors and awards
In 1993, Branson was awarded an honorary degree of Doctor of Technology from Loughborough University. He was knighted by Charles, Prince of Wales on 30 March 2000 at an investiture in Buckingham Palace.
Also in 2000, Branson received the Tony Jannus Award for his accomplishments in commercial air transportation. On 14 November 2011, Branson was awarded the ISTA Prize by the International Space Transport Association in The Hague for his pioneering achievements in the development of suborbital transport systems with "Virgin Galactic"
On 21 September 2014, Branson was recognized by The Sunday Times as the most admired business person over the last five decades.
Reference and images : Various Online Medias