Richard Branson and His Empire

Richard Branson and His Empire

Richard Branson was born to Edward James Branson and Eve Branson on 18th July 1950. He is the eldest of four siblings, but unlike his other siblings he did not have good academic results as he suffered from dyslexia. In contrast to poor results in academic area, he had excellent performance in sports and this is how his ability to connect with others was discovered.

With this ability he became a well known industrialist with a worldwide known brand “Virgin”, with over 360 companies. Branson had his first successful business endeavor at the age of 16, with publication of a youth-culture magazine called “Student”. He then established a record mail order business in 1970, closely followed by opening a chain of record stores in 1972. Richard Branson’s Virgin brand grew rapidly in the following years with the expansion of Virgin Records music label and establishment of Virgin Atlantic in 1984.

Without looking back Branson expanded is empire to include diversified companies in different industries such as transport and travel, leisure and entertainment, Communication and Money, and retail. This way Branson created one of the most well known brands throughout the world “Virgin” to include multiple products and services. Products and services ranging from soft drinks, record labels, mobile phones and networks, airlines, railways and spaceship bears the name of Virgin. Following are some of the businesses of Branson and probably there will be many other categories of products carrying the name of “Virgin” in the future as well.

• Virgin Atlantic - An international airline flying to many major destinations.

• Virgin Megastores - Music Super-markets located in major locations in the UK, Us and Australia.

• Virgin Books - Publisher and distributor of books.