Early Life

Richard was born on July 18, 1950 at Blackheath, South London and educated at Stowe school. As a child, he was not considered bright at school, partly due to dyslexia that made learning difficult, but he credits it for teaching him how to concentrate hard. His first successful businesses venture was at the age of 16, when he published a national magazine called Student. Next year he began a Student Advisory Center to assist young people. He did not graduate, but that didn't stop him from creating the global brand- Virgin, in 1970.

Today, Virgins major forays are in the fields of railway and airways.


Business Ventures

Virgin was originally set up as a mail order record retailer and later promoted as music store chain. In 1972, Richard set up the British record label- Virgin Labels. The business was a roaring hit, and he went on to sign up bands such as "Genesis", "The Sex Pistols", "The Rolling Stones" and "Simple Minds". Later, in 1992, Virgin was later acquired by Thorn EMI in a one billion dollar deal. In 1996, Richards started yet another music label called V2 records and signed some very prominent bands.

Virgin Atlantic Airways was created in 1984 and is currently the second largest long haul international airline in the UK. The business required a completely different skill set and an ability to negotiate with government, regulatory and financial bodies. In due course, the venture would run into trouble with the law and face stiff competition and lawsuits from rival British Airways. But Richards keen business sense prevailed him through the growing pains of this new venture and eventually the Airline has managed to expand its flight routes all over the world.

With the deregulation drive in Britain, Richard found an opportunity to enter the railway sector. Virgin acquired two passenger rail franchise, the Inter City West Coast and Cross Country rail services. Richard introduced new technology and upgrading the fleet to improve efficiency. But the company ran into trouble with the infrastructure it inherited from British Rail. Yet, Virgin Trains is making headway through stiff competition and complications.

Besides the three businesses already mentioned, Virgin is prominent in the arenas of telecommunications – Virgin Mobile, finances – Virgin Money, retails through stores, retails through online means, Hotels and Leisure – Virgin Hotel Group and drinks/beverages – Virgin Drinks, among others. Richard has also set up a space tourism business called Virgin Galactic, which offers customers a safe but adventurous passage through space.


World Record Attempts

Richards is famous for his attempts at World Records. Usually large media events are organized at his record attempts and Richard utilizes these opportunity for brand advertisement.

After losing his boat, 'Virgin Atlantic Challenger', to an earlier attempt at crossing the Atlantic ocean, in 1986, he set a record for crossing the ocean in the fastest ever recorded time aboard the Virgin Atlantic Challenger II. The next year, he crossed the Atlantic in the largest hot ar balloon in the world 'Virgin Atlantic Flyer'. In 1991, he crossed the Pacific in an even larger balloon, breaking the previous record at 245 miles per hour, covering 6,700 miles. But his attempt at a global flight was blundered by bad weather and he was beaten by a Swiss team.

In 2004, Branson set another record by crossing the English channel in one hour and forty minutes, which is the fastest time across the channel aboard an amphibious vessel.


Charity

Branson is involved with several charities. He started his first charity, “Student Valley Center”, when he was only 17.

In 2004, he set up Virgin Unite to encourage his staff to take initiative towards solving tough social issues. The group focuses on entrepreneurial solutions for social and environmental problems.

He has promised to dedicate three billion dollars towards resolving global warming over the next ten years. The money will be generated through profits from his travel firms.

Among others, he is involved with the International Rescue Corps and Prisoners Abroad.