Richard Branson is the world’s most eccentric billionaire

The British businessman’s fortune is estimated at $4.8 billion. Richard Branson set up his first business at the age of sixteen, gradually grew into a multi-million dollar business, wrote several books and even travelled into space.

Who is Mr Branson?

Today this man heads the Virgin Group, is engaged in philanthropy, has a knighthood for his great services to entrepreneurship, and recently became a space tourist.

Richard Branson’s first venture was to publish Student, a magazine he founded when he was still a schoolboy. He even left school because of the project, but he did not achieve commercial success. Then the enterprising young man started selling records at discount prices. Next came the creation of the Virgin Records record company, with which many famous musicians and bands cooperated. Mike Oldfield, the Rolling Stones, the Sex Pistols, Genesis and so on could be mentioned.

Richard invested the profits from the studio into a new business. 1984 was the year when his most famous company, airline Virgin Atlantic, was founded. By this time the British business empire included more than fifty different enterprises with a total turnover of $ 17 million. In 2004, the billionaire was created by Virgin Galactic, which became a specialty of space tourism. In July 2021 Branson and his team made a sub-orbital voyage in space on their own ship.

Branson: The main thing is advertising

Richard is famous for his extravagance through which he tries to advertise his companies. Of particular note are his appearances in front of the public in a bride’s dress and flight attendant uniform, shooting from a tank in Manhattan, flying across the Atlantic on a balloon, and jumping off a high-rise building.

Coca-Cola from a tank

The Virgin Cola drink was launched in 1994 and at first could only be found on board aircraft or in Virgin cinemas, but later it began to be sold in shops. To draw attention to the novelty, Richard Branson sat in a tank and crushed three tons of Coca-Cola cans with it. It was in New York’s Manhattan. The billionaire pretended to fire a gun at a rival company’s banner. The banner was booby-trapped beforehand, so it looked authentic.

The bride’s costume

In 1996, the scandalous Brit started to open Virgin Brides bridal salons. At the presentation, he came to the makeup and the bride’s outfit for $ 10,000. The wedding business existed for eleven years, but Branson’s attire in the dress will not be forgotten for a long time.

Descending from a skyscraper

In 2007, promoting his new airline Virgin America, the businessman climbed onto the 125-meter-high roof of a Las Vegas casino hotel and started descending from it, throwing airline tickets around him. The man sustained several bruises and bumps while descending, hitting the facade, but hospital treatment was not required.

A flight attendant named Richard Branson

On an AirAsia flight in 2013, the billionaire dressed as a flight attendant and attended to passengers. Branson had to do this because he had a dispute with the owner of that airline, Tony Fernandes, over whose Formula One pilots would produce the best result in their first season. The competition was between the Virgin team, owned by Branson, and Lotus, owned by Fernandez. The loser was required to work as a flight attendant on the rival carrier’s plane.