Richard Branson Travel Tourism Media

Richard Branson

Sir Richard Charles Nicholas Branson is an English business magnate, best known for his Virgin brand of over 360 companies. Branson's first successful business venture was at age 15, when he published a magazine called Student. He then set up a record mail-order business in 1970. In 1972, he opened a chain of record stores, Virgin Records, later known as Virgin Megastores and rebranded as zavvi in late 2007. With his flamboyant and competitive style, Branson's Virgin brand grew rapidly during the 1980s - as he set up Virgin Atlantic Airways and expanded the Virgin Records music label. Richard Branson is the 236th richest person according to Forbes' 2008 list of billionaires as he has an estimated net worth of approximately $7.9 billion USD. (Credit: Wikipedia).

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Cheeky Branson's Life

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Virgin Casino

Virgin Casino - Virtually Vegas

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Virgin Enterprises Limited

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V Australia

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Virgin Limited Edition

Virgin Unite

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Profile

Richard

Richard Branson Official Website and Blog

I was born in 1950 and educated at Stowe School. It was here that I set up Student magazine when I was 16.

In 1970 I founded Virgin as a mail order record retailer, and shortly afterwards I opened a record shop in Oxford Street, London. In 1972 we built a recording studio in Oxfordshire where the first Virgin artist, Mike Oldfield, recorded ‘Tubular Bells’.

In 1977 we signed the Sex Pistols and we went on to sign many household names from Culture Club to the Rolling Stones, helping to make Virgin Music one of the top six record companies in the world.

With around 200 companies in over 30 countries, the Virgin Group has now expanded into leisure, travel, tourism, mobile, broadband, TV, radio, music festivals, finance and health and through Virgin Green Fund we are investing in renewable energy and resource efficiency.

In February 2007, we announced the Virgin Earth Challenge - a $25 million prize to encourage a viable technology which will result in the net removal of anthropogenic, atmospheric greenhouse gases. In July of the same year I had the honour of joining my good friend Peter Gabriel, Nelson Mandela, Graça Machel, and Desmond Tutu to announce the formation of The Elders, a group of leaders to contribute their wisdom, independent leadership and integrity to tackle some of the world’s toughest problems.

I am also very proud of the work of Virgin Unite, our not-for-profit entrepreneurial foundation, which continues to focus on entrepreneurial approaches to social and environmental issues and enjoy supporting their work in every way I can.

Article

Business Stripped Bare: Adventures of a Global Entrepreneur, by Richard Branson
Review by Jo Owen (October 2008 : Director Magazine)

Global Warming

Sam Branson Global Warming Elnvironmental Activist treehugger Interview

Branson commits $3b to global warming (Credit: Sydney Morning Herald, Sep22 2006)

Richard Branson chats about embracing ethanol and slashing airplane emissions, by Amanda Griscom Little, 07 Dec 2006 (Credit: Grist)

Q- The world is grappling with so many grand-scale problems today -- poverty, disease, terrorism. Why did you decide to focus your efforts on global warming?

A- What sets climate change apart from these other crises is that most people can't see the problem -- CO2 gases are invisible. If you could see them and they were colored red, 50 years ago it would have looked like a small brush fire smoldering around the world, and today it would look like a wildfire raging across the globe. We desperately need leaders who can help bring visibility and forge solutions to this imperceptible menace before it's too late.