Richard Branson

Not to be confused with Richard Bronson or Richard Brandon.

Sir
Richard Branson
Branson in 2015
Born
Richard Charles Nicholas Branson

(1950-07-18) 18 July 1950 (age 74)
Blackheath, London, England
Occupations
  • Business magnate
  • Author
Years active1966–present
Known forFounder of the Virgin Group
Spouses
Kristen Tomassi
​
​
(m. 1972; div. 1979)​
Joan Templeman
​
(m. 1989)​
Children3[a]
MotherEve Branson
Relatives
Signature

Sir Richard Charles Nicholas Branson (born 18 July 1950) is an English business magnate who co-founded the Virgin Group in 1970, and as of 2016 controlled 5 companies remaining of once more than 400.[1]

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 started the Virgin Atlantic airline and expanded the Virgin Records music label. In 1997, Branson founded the Virgin Rail Group to bid for passenger rail franchises during the privatisation of British Rail. The Virgin Trains brand operated the InterCity West Coast franchise from 1997 to 2019, the InterCity CrossCountry franchise from 1997 to 2007, and the InterCity East Coast franchise from 2015 to 2018. In 2004, he founded spaceflight corporation Virgin Galactic, based at Mojave Air and Space Port in California, noted for the SpaceShipTwo suborbital spaceplane designed for space tourism.

In March 2000, Branson was knighted at Buckingham Palace for "services to entrepreneurship".[2] Due to his work in retail, music, and transport, his taste for adventure, and for his humanitarian work, he has become a prominent global figure.[3][4] In 2007, he was placed in the Time 100 Most Influential People in the World list. In June 2023, Forbes listed Branson's estimated net worth at US$3 billion.[5]

On 11 July 2021, Branson travelled as a passenger onboard Virgin Galactic Unity 22 at the edge of space, a suborbital test flight for his spaceflight company Virgin Galactic.[6][7] The mission lasted approximately one hour, reaching a peak altitude of 53.5 miles (86.1 km). At 70, Branson became the third oldest person to fly to space.[8]


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  1. ^
    • List of Companies related to Richard BransonArchived 28 August 2016 at the Wayback Machine
    • "London's 1000 most influential people 2010: Tycoons & Retailers". Evening Standard. 26 November 2010. Archived from the original on 3 March 2011. Retrieved 11 June 2011.
    • "Richard Branson successfully completes flight to space with Virgin Galactic". The Independent. 11 July 2021. Retrieved 11 July 2021.
    • "Billionaire Richard Branson reaches space in his own ship". AP News. 11 July 2021. Retrieved 11 July 2021.
  2. ^ "Virgin tycoon is knighted". BBC News. 3 January 2016. Archived from the original on 9 January 2003. Retrieved 15 January 2011.
  3. ^ Barling, Julian. The Sage Handbook of Organizational Behavior: Volume Two: Macro Approaches. Sage. p. 383.
  4. ^ "Thirty of the very best of British". The Daily Telegraph. 13 November 2016. Archived from the original on 9 April 2018. Retrieved 4 April 2018.
  5. ^ "Richard Branson". Forbes. Archived from the original on 20 April 2020. Retrieved 3 July 2021.
  6. ^ Chang, Kenneth (11 July 2021). "Branson Completes Virgin Galactic Flight, Aiming to Open Up Space Tourism". The New York Times. ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved 12 July 2021.
  7. ^ Chow, Denise (20 July 2021). "Amazon's Jeff Bezos makes history with all-civilian suborbital flight". NBC News. Retrieved 21 July 2021.
  8. ^ Kurkowski, Seth (11 July 2021). "Live Blog: Virgin Galactic to launch Richard Branson and Unity22 crew to space". Space Explored. Retrieved 19 July 2021.