This is a list of Richard Branson's business ventures from the 1960s to today.
1960sedit
1966 – After failed attempts to grow and sell both Christmas trees and budgerigars, Branson launches his first successful business, a magazine named Student, the first issue of which appearing in January 1968.[1] Branson's net worth was estimated at £50,000 by 1969.
1970sedit
1970 – Start selling records by mail-order[citation needed]
1971 – Opens his first record shop on Oxford Street[citation needed]
1972 – Opens a Virgin Recording Studio[citation needed]
1979 – Buys the gay nightclub Heaven, located under Charing Cross railway station. It was sold in 2003 to a private buyer.[citation needed] Branson's net worth was estimated at £5 million by 1979.
1980sedit
1980 – Virgin Records goes international[citation needed]
1984 – Virgin Vision (launched the previous year) launches "Music Box", a 24-hour satellite music station.
1985 – Virgin Group now includes record labels, retail outlets, exported music publishing, broadcasting, satellite television, and film and video distribution.
1987 – Virgin sets up 525, a post production facility in Los Angeles, to work on high-end commercials and pop videos.
1987 – Virgin sets up "Music Box" as an independent producer of music programmes.
1987 – Virgin buys a 45% stake in Mastertronic Group. Later Virgin Mastertronic becomes a wholly owned subsidiary of Virgin Group, creating, marketing and distributing computer games software and Sega consoles in several European countries.
^ abc"Richard Branson". Entrepreneur. 10 October 2008. Retrieved 6 April 2013.
^Kensington Roof Gardens to close after more than 35 years The Guardian 3 January 2018
^Dearlove, Des (13 Mar 2007). Business the Richard Branson Way: 10 Secrets of the World's Greatest Brand Builder (3 ed.). John Wiley & Sons. pp. 15. ISBN 9781841127668.
^"Richard Branson Biography". Bio. Archived from the original on 15 April 2014. Retrieved 14 April 2014.
^Hosking, Patrick (29 April 1993). "Branson takes to the airwaves: Hopes are high as Virgin Radio begins broadcasting". The Independent. London. Retrieved 24 September 2014.
^"14 Virgin companies that even Richard Branson could not stop going bust". Business Insider. Retrieved 2024-01-20.
^Branson's Virgin Group wins CrossCountry Trains for 15 years Rail issue 294 18 December 1996 page 6