Richard Branson Biography, Companies, Island, Net Worth

Sir Richard Charles Nicholas Branson is a British billionaire, entrepreneur, and business magnate who founded The Virgin Group in the 1970s, which today controls more than 400 companies in various fields.

Branson was educated at Scaitcliffe School, a prep school in Surrey, before briefly attending Cliff View House School in Sussex.

He attended Stowe School, an independent school in Buckinghamshire until the age of sixteen.

Branson is dyslexic which led to poor academic performance.

On his last day at school, his headmaster, Robert Drayson, told him he would either end up in prison or become a millionaire.

Branson has also talked openly about having ADHD, one of the most common neurodevelopmental disorders of childhood.

It is usually first diagnosed in childhood and often lasts into adulthood.

Those with ADHD may have trouble paying attention, controlling impulsive behaviors (may act without thinking about what the result will be), or be overly active.

Richard Branson companies

Branson set out to become an entrepreneur at a very young age.

• At age 16, he set up his first business venture, a magazine called Student.
• In 1970, he set up a mail-order record business and 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 Virgin Atlantic airline and expanded the Virgin Records music label.

• In 1997, he 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.

Richard Branson island

Branson owns the Necker Island, a 30-hectare island in the British Virgin Islands just north of Virgin Gorda.

He is also co-owner of Makepeace Island, a luxury resort in Australia.

Richard Branson net worth

Branson has an estimated net worth of $3.7 billion.