Richard Branson

Sir Richard Branson, KBE (born 18 July 1950), a famed British entrepreneur, is best known for his widely successful Virgin brand, a banner that encompasses a variety of business organizations.

Biography

Richard Branson was educated at Stowe and he began his entrepreneurial activities there by the setting up of Student Magazine. Branson set up a record mail order business in 1970, started a record shop in London shortly afterwards and then in 1972 the record label Virgin Records with Nik Powell. The company's first issue was multi-instrumentalist Mike Oldfield's Tubular Bells, which was to be a best-seller. Branson's company also courted controversy by signing bands like the Sex Pistols, whose contract more conventional companies had dispensed with. Virgin also introduced Culture Club to the music world. Later, in 1992, Branson sold the Virgin label to EMI, the conventional company who had rescinded the contract of the Pistols due to their excessive vulgarity (they were caught swearing live on national TV).

Related Topics:
Stowe - 1970 - London - 1972 - Virgin Records - Nik Powell - Mike Oldfield's - Tubular Bells - Sex Pistols - Culture Club - 1992 - EMI

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Branson is known for his outlandish exploits used to promote his businesses, Branson is keen on playful antagonisms, exemplified by his "Mine is bigger than yours" decals on the new Airbus A340-600 jets used by his airline. He has also made several unsuccessful attempts to fly in a hot air balloon around the world.

Related Topics:
Airbus A340-600 - Jets - Airline - Hot air balloon

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The hot air balloon, called the "Virgin Atlantic Flyer," was the first hot air balloon ever to cross the Atlantic Ocean, and was the largest ever flown at 60.513 m³ (2,137,000 ft³) volume, reaching speeds in excess of 130 mph (209 km/h).

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In 1991, Branson crossed the Pacific Ocean from Japan to Arctic Canada, a distance of 7,672 km (4,767 miles), but their track took them a claimed 10,885 km. This again broke all existing records with speeds of up to 245 mph (394 km/h) in a balloon measuring 2.6 million cubic feet (74,000 m³).

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He formed Virgin Atlantic Airways in 1984, launched Virgin Mobile in 1999, Virgin Blue in Australia in 2000, and later failed in a 2000 bid to handle the National Lottery. He has also started a European short-haul airline, Virgin Express.

Related Topics:
Virgin Atlantic Airways - 1984 - Virgin Mobile - 1999 - Virgin Blue - Australia - 2000 - National Lottery - Short-haul - Airline - Virgin Express

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After the so-called campaign of "dirty tricks," Branson sued rival airline British Airways for libel in 1992. King countersued Branson, and the case went to trial in 1993. British Airways, faced with likely defeat, settled the case, giving £500,000 to Branson and a further £110,000 to his airline; further, BA was to pay the legal fees of up to £3 million. Branson divided his compensation among his staff, the so-called "BA bonus."

Related Topics:
British Airways - Libel - 1992 - 1993

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In July 2003, Branson flew a replica of the first heavier-than-air flying machine, the glider designed by Sir George Cayley, at the original site in Yorkshire

Related Topics:
July 2003 - Glider - Sir George Cayley - Yorkshire

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In October 2003, he teamed up with balloonist Steve Fossett as lead sponsor for an attempt to break the record for a non-stop flight around the world. A new aircraft, the GlobalFlyer, was built specially for the attempt by Scaled Composites and on March 3, 2005, at about 01:50 PM CST, Fossett completed the record-breaking flight after 67 hours and 1 minute, with an average speed of nearly 300 mph (480 km/h).

Related Topics:
October 2003 - Steve Fossett - GlobalFlyer - Scaled Composites - March 3 - 2005 - CST - Mph

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On September 25, 2004 he announced the signing of a deal under which a new space tourism company, Virgin Galactic, will license the technology behind SpaceShipOne to take paying passengers into suborbital space. The group plans to make flights available to the public by late 2007 with tickets priced at $190,000.

Related Topics:
September 25 - 2004 - Space tourism - Virgin Galactic - SpaceShipOne - Suborbital

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Branson has been tagged as a 'transformational leader' by management lexicon, with his maverick strategies and his stress on the Virgin Group as an organization driven on informality and information, one that's bottom heavy rather than strangled by top-level management.

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Branson was 7th in the Sunday Times Rich List 2005.

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