West Coast main line: Has Richard Branson forgotten the virtues of competition? October 23, 2014 Richard Branson’s famous guerrilla campaign to break British Airways’s grip on Heathrow Airport is safe in history as a victory for competition and passenger choice. The tenacious campaign fought by Virgin to secure access and slots at Heathrow dominated the UK aviation scene for most of the 1990s, and ultimately led to lower fares and [...]
Richard Branson: How passion can change your life October 12, 2014 Buzzwords can get tiresome, and “passion” is one that’s thrown around liberally. We’re told it pays to be passionate in our jobs, and that passionate leadership is the best kind. But however fed up most might feel with the word, Richard Branson has always been passionate about passion – arguing it got him to where [...]
Richard Branson has spoken: Apple Pay is the future, Bitcoin regulation is a good thing and Sidecar is the startup app to watch September 25, 2014 City A.M. chatted with Richard Branson about his views on startups, why affordable space travel is imminent and what drove his decision to invest in a drone business. What’s the most exciting startup at the moment? I’m lucky in that I meet exciting startups virtually everyday. One that’s especially grabbed my attention lately [...]
Richard Branson unveils unlimited holiday allowance for Virgin staff September 24, 2014 Entitled "why we are letting Virgin staff take as much holiday as they want" a Richard Branson blog post is making waves. The Virgin supremo will allow his staff to take off unlimited amounts of time with no questions asked – so long as breaks do not impinge upon individual or team targets. The approach, which [...]
What is Formula E? Your guide to Leonardo DiCaprio and Richard Branson’s favourite new motorsport September 12, 2014 Racing goes on the grid for the first time this weekend, as the debut season of Formula E gets underway in Beijing this weekend. Formula E is the electricity powered alternative to the more gass-guzzling versions of motorsports, backed by the Federation Internationale de l'Automobile (FIA) and an array of famous faces including Leonardo DiCaprio and [...]
Why Richard Branson isn’t afraid to fail: Four Virgin businesses that didn’t work out September 9, 2014 It was only a year ago that Richard Branson was prancing around in a red kilt at the launch of Little Red, his domestic airline for the UK, which was designed to provide competition after British Airways owner International Airline Group acquired BMI. Since its launch, though, Little Red has been dogged by rumours [...]
Richard Branson’s PM Chequers boast sparks awkward Twitter questions August 14, 2014 Richard Branson’s latest blog has been conjuring some awkward questions on Twitter. The entrepreneur wrote about relationship between business and politics before stating, “Dined at Chequers with 9 of last 10 Prime Ministers. Won’t reveal who didn’t invite me – was it something I said?!” Impressive, you might say. But Michael Jary, partner at OC&C [...]
Sir Richard Branson mouths off over being forced to wear a tie July 3, 2014 You’d imagine being a billionaire would mean never having to do something you really don’t want to do. If you don’t want to eat your greens, consider them gone. If you really dislike pairing socks, there’s someone else can do that for you. But it seems the UK’s favourite billionaire Sir Richard Branson [...]
Richard Branson leads $25m investment round in FX group TransferWise June 9, 2014 RICHARD Branson has led a $25m (£15m) investment round in London-based money transfer business TransferWise, the company will reveal today. TransferWise is an international money transfer platform, using peer-to-peer technology to cut the exchange fees charged by banks and brokers. “Financial services such as foreign exchange have been ripe for disruption for decades and it’s [...]
Richard Branson bets on Bitcoin with new stake in payment firm May 13, 2014 BITPAY, the Atlanta-based Bitcoin payments processor, has reportedly raised $30m (£17.8m), and Richard Branson is one of the investors. In an email cited by the Wall Street Journal, the business magnate took the opportunity to make a statement about virtual currency more widely, saying: “Banking as we know it is in the midst of enormous [...]