Richard Branson's Net Worth Is High In the Sky
Richard Branson goes by the nickname of “Old Beardie.” He was knighted in 2009 by the Queen of England for his entrepreneurial contributions. His noble title is Sir Richard Charles Nicholas Branson. One might say his full title is then, Sir Richard Charles Nicholas “Old Beardie” Branson, which I think even he would find hilarious. Richard Branson's net worth is $3.5 billion.
It is not easy to become one of the high net worth individuals. If you look carefully into the backgrounds of billionaires with the biggest net worth, like Jeff Bezos, or the wealthiest entrepreneurs, like Elon Musk, you are going to find what I call a “go or blow” moment where they had to bet the house (literally their homes) to save their companies. It was only a twist of fate and amazing good luck that they made it. Bezos calls his success “hitting the Internet lottery.” Musk got divorced while he was on the edge of bankruptcy.
Richard Branson’s net worth is about having incredible good luck as well and being taught by his mom when a toddler that he could do anything. She threw him out of the car when he was a few blocks from his grandma’s house and forced him to walk the rest of the way there. She was not punishing him. She was teaching him to be independent. He never forgot this lesson.
Richard Branson bet everything he had many times. Even though he was a millionaire when young, during his early years he always borrowed more than he had, so Richard Branson’s net worth stayed below zero for a very long time.
It took about 17 years for him to finally get out of debt and achieve his “overnight” success and with the minimal required entrepreneur net worth of some tens of millions extra like Suze Orman who is working on her first billion starting from her current net worth of $50 million. Side note: We need more female billionaires; Oprah is getting lonely at the top. Naturally, Branson and Oprah are good friends.
Richard Branson’s net worth and Oprah’s net worth are in the same league and both made money from entertainment ventures. Personally, it is my dream to someday party with Sir Richard and Oprah. Oprah and I share a birth date of January 29, so Sir Richard, if you are listening, please invite me and Oprah to a birthday party at Necker Island. What is Necker Island? Read on to find out.
A Billion Is Not What It Used To Be
The richest entrepreneurs need to create an award called Entrepreneur Richest Person in the World, for the world’s first trillionaire to give these billionaires, who are on the rat-race treadmill of insatiable greed, a new goal. Richard Branson’s net worth of $3.5 billion makes him a contender; however, I think he is having too much fun to try to become a trillionaire.
A Criminal Record Suitable For a Billionaire
Branson started his business career, like almost all eventual-billionaires do, by committing a white-collar crime. He has a criminal record of fraud in the UK from not paying the proper amount of excise duties and purchase tax. This dates back to 1971 when he was running a mail-order record business as a hippie entrepreneur, selling records at a discount. At that time, the only “records” anyone wanted to keep were the vinyl kind that played music, not the bookkeeping kind.
Branson’s scheme was to obtain export documents to make it look like he was shipping record album overseas, but instead of shipping them, he sold them in the UK for lower prices without paying the tax. He was caught by a sting operation that included marking the record albums with invisible ink.
The Wealthry Store - Where Money is Made.
Bye-Bye Tax Man
Branson had no interest in paying taxes then and has no interest in paying them now. Paying taxes never added anything to Richard Branson’s net worth.
Branson got the last laugh. He is a tax-exile who now lives in the tax haven of the British Virgin Islands. He pays no personal income taxes now. This legal tax avoidance strategy saved him many hundreds of millions and that added significantly to Richard Branson’s net worth.
Early Days
Richard Branson was born on June 18, 1950, so he was a young child during the birth of Rock and Roll music. He grew up during the time of Elvis Presley and then later the Beatles, which influenced his love of music.
Business Success
For his first business, in 1966, he started a magazine called The Student when he was 16 years old. The copies of the magazine were given away for free but Branson sold $8,000 worth of advertising in the magazine to pay for its publication. The funny thing is that Branson dropped out of high school to start the magazine preferring to try his hand at business rather than being forced to study things in high school that he had no interest in learning.
Like a Virgin
He used The Student magazine to advertise records for sale for his company called, Virgin Mail Order Records. The “Virgin” name was suggested by one of his early employees because they were all new to the record business. Then in 1970, he opened a retail record shop in Oxford, England with business partner Nik Powell (recently deceased from cancer — November 7, 2019).
Their innovation was that they sold every album at a discount from the regular, suggested retail price. The two of them used the money they made selling records to start a record label, Virgin Records, in 1972.
In 1973, he became a millionaire from his earnings on the release of the multi-platinum album of Mike Oldfield’s Tubular Bells, which sold over five million copies. It was the label’s first hit record released. That eerie music was later used as the theme music for the horror film called The Exorcist.
Virgin Records introduced Boy George and his band Culture Club to the world. Virgin Records also signed the Sex Pistols, which got international attention for punk rock. They captured major recording artists Genesis, Janet Jackson, and The Rolling Stones as well, which made Virgin Records have a place on the list of the top ten record companies in the world.
Learning From Losing
It was not always a straight path up to billionaire-status success. The changes in the record industry caused Virgin Records to nearly go bankrupt in 1992. The company had to close all the Virgin Megastores around the globe because of the sharing of digital copies of music online.
Record stores went out of business en masse, never to return. Branson sold Virgin Records for $1 billion to the Thorn EMI Company. The sale made him breakdown and cry when he signed the contract.
Other former Virgin enterprises that are no longer in operation, or were sold, include Virgin Nigeria (an airline), Virgin Brides (too few customers, go figure), Virgin Cars, Virgin Balloon Flights, Virgin Games, Virgin Limousines, Virgin Cola, Virgin Vodka, and Virgin Wine. Branson says, “Business opportunities are like buses, another one will soon come along.” He also says, “Don’t be embarrassed by your mistakes, learn from them.”
Giving Back
Branson started a non-profit organization that helps young entrepreneurs get started, called Virgin Startup. This foundation has given seed money loans for the amount of 500 up to 25,000 pounds to over 11,000 budding UK entrepreneurs. This organization helps them with early money, business advice, and mentorship programs.
When he was 16, Branson got 300 pounds from his mother to start his first magazine business. He never forgot how grateful he was to her for helping him and more importantly believing in him when he dropped out of school to start a business.
Forbes put Branson on the list of the World’s Billionaires for the first time in 2009. By that time, he amassed a personal net worth of around $2.5 billion Now, through the Virgin Group, Branson controls over 400 companies, which bumped Richard Branson’s net worth up to $5 billion.
Private Islands
Branson is now starting to enter his seventies. He spends much of his time on his private Caribbean island, which is one of the British Virgin Islands, called Necker Island. He bought this island for a paltry sum of $180,000 in 1978.
Along with Branson and his friends, Necker Island can be visited by paying guests. Some spend up to $42,000 per night to stay there (when they book the whole island) or $27,000 a week to book a villa that can accommodate 16 to 28 people.
Inside Necker Island
Image Source: The Mirror
Necker Island was damaged severely by Hurricane Irma in September 2017 but has since been repaired and rebuilt up to Branson’s meticulous standards. The island re-opened for guests in 2018. The Great House has two new rooms and there was an additional Balinese-style villa constructed as well. The accommodations are all very open, naturally-adorned, and luxurious at the same time, with views of the sunsets that are spectacular.
Necker Island has been featured on MTV’s Cribs television program and frequently Branson’s celebrity guests come for a visit. The celebrities include Mariah Carey, Kate Winslet, Jimmy Fallon, Oprah, David Beckham, and David Hasselhoff. He befriended Hasselhoff after Branson had a guest appearance on Baywatch.
Former American President Obama and his wife Michelle came to Necker Island for a well-deserved vacation after they left the White House. They had tons of fun and the photos went viral on the Internet. As president, Obama had not been able to surf, which he loves. After eight years, he finally got back into the ocean to enjoy some watersports. He even tried kite surfing for the first time.
Branson also owns Makepeace Island, which is found off the Sunshine Coast near Australia. It can accommodate up to 22 guests. It has a full staff to cater to every whim. The rent is $10,000 per night for a two-night minimum stay during the high season. Everything is included. It works out to be around $1,250 per person per night for those who want to feel like a billionaire.
Ballooning World Records
Branson got some recognition for his achievements in the sport of hot-air ballooning. In 1986, he set the world record for crossing the Atlantic in the Virgin Atlantic Challenger II. He set the world records for hot-air ballooning in the Atlantic in 1987 also and in the Pacific during 1991 as well.
Planes, Trains, And Spaceships
Branson started Virgin Airlines because he was scheduled to fly to the British Virgin Islands to meet up with his girlfriend Joan Templeman, who he later married. His flight was canceled at the last moment. Thinking there must be a way to solve this problem; he went around to the back of the airport and found a plane that he could charter.
He used his credit card for the deposit, hoping that it would go through, which it did. Then, almost as an afterthought, he borrowed a small blackboard and wrote on it “Virgin Airlines, One-Way Flight to the Virgin Islands for $39.” All the people who had been on the canceled flight immediately filled up the seats in his chartered plane.
That is how Virgin Airlines started. No business plan. No stroke of genius. The idea came from his frustration and wanting to see his girlfriend. When the workers at his successful record label found out that he wanted to start an airline, they thought he was nuts.
Branson persuaded Boeing to sell him a secondhand 747 jet plane for a year. If the airline did not work out, he could return the plane to Boeing. Nevertheless, it did work out and the airline rapidly grew from a single plane to five and continued to grow thereafter.
Many years later, Richard Branson once said jokingly, “The fastest way to become a millionaire is to be a billionaire and buy an airline,” in deference to his ownership of Virgin airlines.
Branson sold the American portion of his airline business, called Virgin America, to Alaska Air Group in April 2016 for about $2.6 billion at the price of $57 per share, which was a 40% premium over the stock market price. No financial loss there.
Choo Choo Virgin
In 1997, Virgin branched out into the train business. The British Railway system was privatized. This created the opportunity to offer Virgin rail transportation with what had by then become the distinctive Virgin brand, which was hip, fun, and high-quality for a good value. Virgin bid on the rail franchises, won some, and now operates several train routes in the UK.
The Final Frontier
Over a weekend in Morocco, Branson had the idea for Virgin Galactic. He was hanging out with astronaut Buzz Aldren. They were waiting for a balloon that was going to fly them around the world. He asked Aldren why NASA did not use balloons to get to space. Aldren said a plane would be easier to use, to get to low-orbit, than a balloon.
That’s it! Virgin Galactic would offer commercial low-orbit space flights.
In 2004, Virgin Galactic started taking advance deposits of $200,000 for the first flights and signed up about 100 people including celebrities like Angelina Jolie and Leonardo DiCaprio. There have been successful test flights and one crash. Progress continues. Everyone is waiting for it to be deemed safe enough for paying passengers. The two and one-half-hour long commercial flights to low orbit, where passengers can experience weight loss for a few minutes, may begin sometime during the next few years.
The Many Pieces of Richard Branson’s Net Worth
The Virgin Group includes companies with a total of over 71,000 employees. It brings in over $25 billion a year from businesses in these industry sectors:
Aviation
Aerospace
Banking
Books
Communications
Consumer Electronics
Cruise Ships
Fitness Centers
Healthcare
Hospitality
Internet
Jewelry
Mobile Phones
Motor Sports
Movies
Music
Publishing
Radio
Retail
Travel
Rail Transport
The Virgin conglomerate also licenses its brand name, such as the Virgin Records label that is now owned by Universal Music and Virgin Media owned by Liberty Global.
A Virgin Tax Haven
The parent company that is holding Branson’s, and his family’s, ownership in all of this, is Virgin Group Holdings Ltd. It is registered in the tax-free tax haven of the British Virgin Islands.
Branson did not name those islands “Virgin,” but he might as well have. It is where his vast financial holdings stay protected far away from the grips of the “tax man.” Branson is a tax-exile from the UK. He is a resident of the British Virgin Island. He pays no income tax. There is nothing illegal about this, just clever, and Branson loves living there.
Books about business and leadership that were written by Richard Branson include Losing My Virginity (1998), Screw It, Let’s Do It (2006), Business Stripped Bare (2008), and The Virgin Way (2014). Revenues from their sales added to Richard Branson’s net worth.
Conclusion
Being Richard Branson looks like it would be fun. He is a bit eccentric, yet his quirkiness is cool. He lives the high-life of a billionaire with a sense of adventure and is not afraid to try something new, even if he knows nothing at all about it.