By 1996, V2, Branson’s next label, was founded. He was back in his beloved music industry.
The continued success of Virgin Atlantic allowed Branson to further expand the Virgin trademark. He went into telecommunications, and expanded to hundreds of companies. These range from a brand of vodka to a stem cell bank.
Most of Branson’s ventures are concentrated in the entertainment, transportation and communication industries. After launching his airline in 1983, Virgin expanded into an early satellite music station with Virgin Vision’s “Music Box”. Virgin Records expanded to the United States in 1984. By 1987, the Virgin Group, with some partners, founded British Satellite Broadcasting with five satellite channels in the United Kingdom.
Other production companies, games companies and travel companies were launched throughout the 1980s. During the 1990s, Virgin continued to expand with new entertainment companies. He also expanded his travel ventures with Virgin Trains. This decade also saw Branson’s expansion into telecommunications, financial services, beverages like vodka and soft drinks, a rugby team, a cosmetics company, and a bridal store. He also launched Virgin. Net in 1996.
During the 2000s, Virgin went into the energy business, as a result of Branson’s interest in alternative fuels. He expanded into a health bank, other media and cars. He is interested in running trains and cars with energy-efficient fuels, and runs a Formula One race car on this principle.
What started as a student newspaper is now a multi-billion pound media, transportation and lifestyle empire. Branson is one of the most recognisable entrepreneurs in the world.
In fact, the world might not be big enough for Sir Richard. He dared to begin the company Virgin Galactic. This company aims to do no less than carry paying passengers into space.
Ambition and risk are only part of the Branson style. He has preserved his entrepreneurial spirit through decades of doing business. His style comes from his understanding of and talent for reaching people.
Branson is closely involved with the management of only his record and airline companies. Typically, though, he is a very hands-off man when it comes to running a company. He famously enters into realms in which he has no expertise. He buys a company and sometimes retains the controlling interest. He is far from controlling, however.
Instead, he tends to look for the right person for the job and his acumen and judgment in this area is where his real expertise lies. Branson says that he finds someone who has a passion, interest, and talent for any particular company, and then instructs that person to run the company as if it were his or her own.
While he does not directly manage the operations of all of these companies, he is accessible. He writes (literally writes, since he does not use computers) monthly letters to his employees, keeping the tone chatty and informal. He also encourages all of his employees to come to him with concerns or ideas, which he then might decide to back up with his support. When he makes a decision of this kind, he really does back it up. Every employee of a company with Branson in an executive chair has his phone number and home address.
One of his employees, a flight attendant on Virgin Airlines, was planning her wedding. The well-known difficulties involved in planning such an event gave her an idea for a business. She approached Branson with her idea for a wedding planning business.
Branson gave this business the green light and then some. Virgin Bride was launched in 1996, with Branson, complete with wedding dress, posing for promotional pictures. Virgin is now Europe’s largest bridal shop.
This story illustrates another aspect of the Branson style. Admirers and critics alike know about his splashy and outrageous tactics for promotion. He has been compared to P.T. Barnum for his wildly high-visibility promotions. He does not shy away from either controversy or downright tackiness. This attitude makes him loved by some and hated by others, but he is noticed by all, and that’s how he likes it.
People can criticise him all they like, Branson is laughing his big toothy laugh all the way to the bank.
Achievements and Foundations
Branson has published his autobiography; Losing My Virginity: How I’ve Survived, Had Fun, and Made a Fortune Doing Business My Way was published in 1998. His book, Screw It, Let’s Do It: Lessons In Life is a short book that outlines his personal lessons for business and personal success. His lessons here outline the simple principles that have guided him throughout life, many of which were learned from his mother and grandmother. Business Stripped Bare: Adventures of a Global Entrepreneur outlines four decades of business success and failure.
His books are a way to share his insights with a wide audience. Branson is known for candour, brashness and openness, and he has no problem sharing his ideas. Branson is a rich source of insight and inspiration.
He became Sir Richard Branson in 1999, knighted for “services to entrepreneurship”. Earlier, in 1993, he was awarded an honorary Doctor of Technology degree from Loughborough University. The list of companies involved in the Virgin empire is so numerous that Branson himself is hard-pressed to give an actual number.
Aside from the triumphs in business, Branson has had a notable series of records in adventure sports and travel. He has made several world record attempts with varied success. In 1985, he attempted the fastest crossing of the Atlantic, but capsized early and had to be rescued. The following year, he beat the sailing record.
One year later, he made the fastest balloon crossing of the Atlantic, in the largest balloon, thereby setting two additional records at once. In 1991, he took his balloon across the Pacific, breaking yet another speed record, reaching 394 km/h.
During the years between 1995 and 1998, Branson, along with Steve Fossett and Per Lindstrand, tried to go around the world by balloon. In late 1998, they did complete a record-breaking flight from Morocco to Hawaii. However, they did not complete the global circumnavigation before the record was set by a rival pair of adventurers in 1999.
An entirely different conveyance, an amphibious vehicle, was used in 2004 to set Branson’s speed record for such a crossing of the English Channel. He handily beat the previous record by over 4 hours, completing the crossing in 1 h, 40m and 6s.
Branson has also made numerous appearances on television and in print. Many of these are of course profiles and interviews. However, he has been tapped for cameo appearances in movies and on television. The media mogul doesn’t miss many chances to appear in the public eye.
Finally, Branson is known for the many philanthropic and other causes that he involves himself with. He has either supported or founded many charities and groups. This tendency showed itself very early in Branson’s life, around the time of his first business success. At age 17, he began the Student Valley Centre charity.
Branson is interested in solving the world’s biggest problems and thinks that entrepreneurs and leaders have just the right mindset to be able to do so. With that in mind, Branson founded The Elders, an organisation of the world’s big achievers devoted to solving big problems. Bringing together the unlikely grouping of politicians to musicians to businessmen, he is not afraid to tackle the biggest questions that society is grappling with. The group includes Nelson Mandela, Desmond Tutu, former US president Jimmy Carter and Peter Gabriel, among others. This group is a fitting gathering. Branson has frequently said that his biggest influences have come from his reading of nonfiction. Nelson Mandela is one of his personal inspirations, and he now has helped to form a mutual admiration society of thinkers that he admires, in order to focus on what he sees as some of the major issues facing everyone.
Other charities include the International Rescue Corps, a group dedicated to search and rescue operations. This group is an independent operation, run completely on donations and volunteer time.
Prisoners Abroad is a group with the goal of helping British citizens who have been detained abroad. The group attempts to assure humane treatment for detainees and to provide support for their families.
Sir Richard is a recipient of the United Nations’ Correspondents’ Association