Who is Richard Branson?
Richard Branson is an English business magnate, philanthropist, and investor. He is the founder of Virgin Group, which controls more than 400 companies. He has an estimated net worth of US$5.1 billion according to the Forbes magazine.
Richard Branson: Early Life, Childhood, and Education
Branson was born as Richard Charles Nicholas Branson in Blackheath, London on July 18, 1950, to parents Eve Branson and Edward James Branson. Additionally, he has two younger sisters. He has dyslexia and hence he struggled throughout his schooling years. His parents were supportive of his endeavors from an early age and he had the desire to become an entrepreneur at a young age. He is of American nationality. Furthermore, he belongs to a mixed ethnic background of English, Scottish and Welsh, Indian, German, and distant Irish.
Talking about his education, Branson attended Scaitcliffe School and later Cliff View House School in Sussex. Additionally, he also attended Stowe School.
Richard Branson: Career, Salary, and Net Worth
Branson initially started his record business. He started the business from the church where he ran Student magazine. Later, he started a record shop in Oxford Street in London. Eventually, he launched the record label Virgin Records with Nik Powell in 1972. The record has signed artists including the Sex Pistols, Rolling Stones, Peter Gabriel, Paula Abdul, and UB40 among others. Furthermore, he also formed Virgin Atlantic Airways in 1984 and successfully launched Virgin Mobile in 1999.
Apart from his business ventures, Branson has also appeared in numerous television series. Some of them are ‘Entourage’, ‘Casino Royale’, ‘Superman Returns’, ‘Around the World in 80 Days’, ‘Sin City Spectacular’, ‘Friends’, ‘Only Fools and Horses….’ and ‘Derek and Clive Get the Horn’ among others. Furthermore, he has also worked as a producer for shows including ‘Chloe and Theo’, ‘Jambo Jumbo’, ‘The Rebel Billionaire: Branson’s Quest for the Best’, and ‘Electric Dreams’ among others. In addition, to his several humanitarian works, he is also a recognized author and has authored books including ‘Screw It, Let’s Do It’, ‘Business Stripped Bare’, ‘Screw Business as Usual’ and ‘The Virgin Way: How to Listen, Learn, Laugh and Lead’ among others.
Branson received an honorary degree of Doctor of Technology from Loughborough University. Additionally, he has also received an honorary degree of Doctor Honoris Causa from Kaunas Technology University. Furthermore, he was knighted by Charles, Prince of Wales on 30 March 2000 for his ‘services to entrepreneurship’.
Branson has not revealed his current salary. However, he has a net worth of 5 billion USD at present.
Richard Branson: Rumors and Controversy
Branson has been part of several controversies in his career. He was convicted and briefly jailed for tax evasion in 1971. Furthermore, over the years, he has been criticized for his business strategy. In addition, he was accused of sexual assault by a singer Antonia Jenae on 27 November 2017. At present, there are no rumors concerning his life and career.
Richard Branson: Height, Weight, Hair color
Talking about his body measurement, Branson has a height of 1.79m. Additionally, he weighs around 87 kg. Furthermore, his hair color is blonde/grey and eye color is blue.
Branson is active over the social media. He has a huge number of followers on social networking sites such as Facebook, Twitter as well as Instagram. He has more than 12M followers on Twitter. In addition, he has more than 2.5M followers on Instagram. Similarly, his Facebook page has more than 3M followers.
References: (ethnicelebs.com, forbes.com, cnbc.com, telegraph.co.uk)
