Richard Branson
Necker Island, British Virgin Islands
Drop Out, High School
United Kingdom
Virgin, Self Made
$4,000,000,000
472
#478 Billionaires 2019
Richard Branson owes his fortune to a conglomerate of businesses bearing the "Virgin" brand name, including Virgin Atlantic and Virgin Galactic.The son of a barrister and flight attendant, Branson got his start with a mail-order record business some 50 years ago.He primarily lives on a luxe British Virgin Islands retreat, Necker Island, which he bought for $180,000 in 1978.Alaska Air acquired his Virgin America airline in 2016, a move he opposed but didn't have the votes to stop. Branson is getting into the cruise business with Virgin Voyages, expected to take its first passengers in 2020.
When he sold Virgin Records for $1 billion in 1992, Branson ran down London's Ladbroke Grove crying, upset over parting with the business. Branson suspended talks with Saudi Arabia over a proposed $1 billion investment into Virgin Galactic after the disappearance of journalist Jamal Khashoggi in 2018.
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