Richard Branson

Richard Charles Nicholas Branson is a British entrepreneur, business magnate, and commercial astronaut. In the 1970s he founded the Virgin Group, which today controls more than 400 companies in various fields.

Branson'sfirst 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 foundedspaceflight corporation Virgin Galactic, based at Mojave Air and Space Port in California, noted for the SpaceShipTwo suborbital spaceplane designed for space tourism.

Branson’s numerous charitable initiatives included pledging an estimated $3 billion in 2006 to fund environmentally friendly fuel research. In 2007, in honour of his sustained support of humanitarian and environmental causes, Branson received the Citizen of the Year Award from the United Nations Correspondents Association (UNCA).

In 2007, he was placed in the Time 100 Most Influential People in the World list. In July 2021,Forbeslisted Branson's estimated net worth at US$5.7 billion.

In March 2000, Branson was knighted at Buckingham Palace for "services to entrepreneurship".