Happy B’Day Sir Richard Branson: Amazing Facts About the Venturesome Virgin King

If there were a title bestowed upon someone as “The Most Interesting Man in the World,” Richard Branson, the founder and chairman of the Virgin Group, would have won it for over 40 years now. Known for his billionaire smile and an unwavering commitment to crafting businesses that redefine the customer experience, Branson has earned the moniker “quality” among admirers. Richard Charles Nicholas Branson is a true embodiment of turning life into an exhilarating adventure, building an awe-inspiring empire through sheer audacity and an unyielding passion for having a blast along the way.

With a net worth of $3.1 Billion, Richard Nicholas still stands by, “I was never interested in making money; I like creating things I can be proud of and have fun creating it.”

Today marks the 73rd birthday of Sir Richard Branson, who held the title of the 8th wealthiest person in the United Kingdom in 2017 and 2020 and currently stands as the 852nd richest billionaire worldwide in 2023.

Name: Richard Branson

Date Of Birth: 18 July 1950

Net Worth: $5.1 Billion (As of July 2018)

Richard Branson, the mastermind behind the Virgin Group, commands an awe-inspiring empire that encompasses a staggering 400+ goods and services companies. From iconic rock record labels to pioneering airlines, and even venturing into the uncharted territory of space travel, Branson exemplifies rare mastery in entrepreneurship and leadership. His unwavering passion lies in conquering untapped markets, challenging the established monopolies with superior experiences and personalized offerings for consumers across various sectors.

With an astonishing portfolio of more than 55 brands and a global presence spanning over 13 geographies, the Virgin Group’s reach extends far and wide. From entertainment to fostering entrepreneurship, Branson and his team have displayed unwavering agility and an aggressive approach, continuously forging new frontiers and creating boundless possibilities.

Richard Branson, a true master of handling everyday publicity challenges, possesses an extraordinary ability to infuse creativity and humour into his endeavours. From cola bottles moulded in the likeness of Pamela Anderson’s torso to audacious stunts like the infamous ‘BA can’t get it up’ float, Branson tackles obstacles with a unique blend of wit and ingenuity. Renowned as a risk-taker, he has fearlessly embarked on daring ventures, such as traversing vast oceans in a hot air balloon, not only to generate press interest but also to revel in the sheer joy of adventure. This bold and playful attitude has established him as an indispensable and iconic brand in the business world.

In the high-wire of entrepreneurial risks, ventures and adventures he has had, are hidden a few very interesting and probably less known facts about Richard Branson.

Facts About Richard Branson

1. Richard Branson has had about 14 known brand failures, of which he even turned around and made money for his other cash-crunched businesses. For example, he sold Virgin Records, who had long-term contracts with the likes of Janet Jackson, Sex Pistols and Rollin Stones, to EMI for $1 billion, to revive Virgin Atlantic, his airline company. The record business did not stay as profitable as the airlines business, which he runs even today.
2. Richard Branson attributes much of his exceptional success to being dyslexic, a condition that allowed him to focus on his strengths and learn the valuable skill of delegation from a young age. His entrepreneurship journey started as early as 13 years old when he started cultivating Christmas trees to sell during the holiday season and raising parakeets for the pet market.
3. With a circulation of about 50000, his magazine ‘The Student‘ he launched in 1966, written for the students, by the students, got more popular albeit less profitable. In 1970, he started a mail-order discount record company through which he wished to raise money for the magazine. To make up for his lack of financial understanding and to make things convenient for himself, he introduced equal pay, where everyone was paid the same. The 1971 postal strike in the UK played the devil to him for his mail-order business, got him to ideate and use the opportunity to open a record store with headphones, music players and water pillows to attract youngsters to come and experience the music and buy it. Thus, Virgin Records was born.
4. Five months into it and Richard was arrested for tax evasion as he was discounting his records in part and had figured out a way to evade the 33% record tax. His parents had to bail him out by pawning their home for the same. He wished to save as much money as possible to clear off the debts he had taken to expand to other cities. However, he understood his mistake was almost a criminal offence, took the blame and corrected himself soon after.
5. To pay off a $150,000 penalty and avoid going to court and possibly prison, Branson started a Record Studio and a Record Label under the Virgin Records name, which he launched with his cousin Simon Draper. Their first artist was Mike Oldfield, who recorded his album Tubular Bells, which sold 16 million copies, and overnight it put the Virgin brand on the map. This also made Richard a millionaire even before he was about 23. And by 1994, he owned Necker Island in the British Virgin Islands.
6. In 1983, he launched Virgin Vision (later to become Virgin Communications) to distribute films and videos on the television and broadcasting sector and Virgin Games (renamed Virgin Interactive in 1994), which published games for the Amiga, Sega, Nintendo and Sony PlayStation platforms. In 1993, Virgin Interactive created the “Digicel” process, whose technology was first publicly released in Disney’s Aladin for the Sega platform and subsequently on such projects as ‘The Lion King‘ video game. The worldwide operations of these were acquired in a management buyout in 1998.
7. Richard launched Virgin Atlantic Airways and Virgin Cargo in 1984. Upper-Class travellers got free massages and champagne, and Economy customers got free ice cream and unlimited movies and games on their consoles. This differentiated them from the then monopolising British Airways, which, in 1991, stooped to the level of posing as Virgin Atlantic employees and misleadingly informing Virgin travellers of their flight being cancelled and replaced with British Airways’ seats. British Airways requested and settled out of court with Richard’s Virgin Atlantic for $1.1 million (the highest out-of-court settlement seen then) when sued, as they did not stand a chance of surviving the prosecution.
8. In 1986, he took the Virgin Group public and generated $56 million through the IPO. He, however, hated that he was now accountable to an outside board, and he bought back the company in two years and made it private.
9. As Branson was not yet rich enough to compete with British Airways on advertising spends, he embarked on a series of breathless ballooning and boating adventures that could quickly catapult his brand name. His 1987 flight across the Atlantic with Per Lindstrand, his experienced co-Balloonist, was raved about in the media for a long time. He survived what people before him lost their lives to. This catapulted his and Virgin’s brand name to an all-time high.
10. In 2004, he took Virgin Mobile, which partnered with other service providers to encash on the Virgin brand name and enable customers to use the ‘pay-as-you-go’ model, the public, with an IPO that valued the company at $1.5 billion.
11. In 2004 again, he announced his intentions to get into commercial Spaceship travel and recreation with plans to not just fly people into outer space, also to let them take a day or two of vacation at his space hotel and restaurant, he was envisioned.
12. In 2006, Richard formed VirginCare, which used the technology backbone already set by other Virgin ventures and helped take patient care to a new level. Virgincare provides front-line NHS and social care services across the UK and treated more than four million people since 2006. In November 2013, after a multi-million-pound investment and detailed consultation and development, Total Mobile was introduced. This solution eliminated paperwork, supported clinicians’ normal ways of working and provided real-time information about the patient at the point of care in community nursing.
13. As airlines, including his spew, a lot of CO2 into the atmosphere, Branson pledged all profits from his transportation ventures for the next ten years, an estimated $3 billion into research for an Eco-friendly biofuel. Due to the spiralling increase in fuel costs, Branson, for the first time, hired Deutsche Bank to assess the value of his 51% stake in Virgin Atlantic, as a first step towards selling a portion of his shares. Even Virgin America had lost $400 million dollars before beginning to turn profits in Q3 2010.
14. Sir Richard Branson launched the Council of Elders, a crisis intervention dream team, led by Nelson Mandela. This brings up another odd coincidence, which is that today is Nelson Mandela’s birthday. He is also one of the world’s richests who has pledged 50% of his earnings to non-profit causes.
15. Among the other not-for-profit ventures, Branson’s Virgin Startup and Virgin Unite are all set to encourage more entrepreneurs to build technological and social innovations that can benefit others’ lives and contribute to the well-being and betterment of nature.
16. At the age of 70, Sir Richard Branson achieved another milestone, becoming the third oldest person to journey into space. On July 11, 2021, he travelled as a passenger on Virgin Galactic Unity 22, a suborbital test flight conducted by his spaceflight company, Virgin Galactic. The mission lasted about one hour, taking Branson to the edge of space, reaching an impressive peak altitude of 53.5 miles (86.1 km).

With such a mammoth responsibility of philanthropy up his sleeve, a slew of awards and recognitions to live unto, the mischievous twinkle in his eyes and his itching to keep innovating and experimenting with entrepreneurial ventures, we wish this ‘Man of The Millennium’ has another enthusiastic, healthy and fun-filled era to live in. May more Virgins be born and get succeed.

The post is a part of a B’day Series where we celebrate the birthday of renowned personalities from the Tech Industry, very frequently. The series includes Entrepreneurs, C-level Executives, innovators or renewed leaders who moved the industry with their exponential skill set and vision. The intent is to highlight the person’s achievements and touch base the little-known, but interesting, part of his life. You can see the list of all earlier famous tech personalities, including Mark Zuckerberg, Marissa Mayor, Sean Parker, Andy Rubin, and Julian Assange, by following this link or subscribing to your daily newsletter.

To make it more exciting, we suggest you make use of the comment section if you are the ones celebrating their birthday with today’s featured personality.