Richard Branson pumps £30m windfall into Virgin Brands virgin enterprises Richard Branson has invested some £30m worth of royalties back into his Virgin brand. The British billionaire pumped £25m into the Virgin group last year, down from £85m in 2018. The cash is intended to help support the businesses hit hardest by successive Covid-19 lockdowns worldwide, namely Virgin Atlantic. Virgin Galactic, Branson’s lagging space venture, [...]
Sir Richard Branson: ‘Not lockdowns but vaccines are the route to recovery’ Booster plea Sir Richard Branson has said he believes that vaccines and other precautions against Covid-19 such as the mandatory wearing of indoor face coverings and proof of vaccination are the key to preventing the spread of the virus, rather than “damaging lockdowns”. Sir Richard said that “widespread and equitable vaccinations against Covid-19, coupled with sensible day-to-day [...]
Virgin Atlantic boosted by £400m in funding from Branson’s Virgin Group and Delta Air Lines Smoother landing British Airways rival Virgin Atlantic is hoping to leave the turbulence behind after sealing a funding deal with Virgin Group and Delta Airline to inject £400m in fresh cash to steer it out of the pandemic. Virgin Atlantic, like many other airlines, has been battered by the Covid tracvel restrictions and the clisure of many [...]
Richard Branson-backed Spac targets Grove Collaborative in $1.5bn New York IPO deal December 8, 2021 Virgin Group Acquisition Corp, a blank-cheque firm backed by billionaire Richard Branson, has jumped on the eco-friendly product craze and targeted Grove Collaborative in a merger to take the “sustainable consumer goods company” public in a $1.5bn deal. In a transaction that is expected to close in the first or second quarter next year, the [...]
Billionaire Richard Branson sells off another $300m stake in Virgin Galactic November 16, 2021 British billionaire Richard Branson has sold off a further $300m worth of stock in his space venture Virgin Galactic, taking the total offloaded this year to some $600m. The unlocked capital is reportedly set to be pumped into Branson’s travel and leisure businesses, after emergency pandemic restrictions bruised profits. Shares sank more than four per [...]
Richard Branson under fire for appearing with New Orleans high school band October 12, 2021 Catholic school fans in New Orleans are not very enthusiastic about an appearance by Sir Richard Branson with the St Augustine High School Marching 100 – the band that integrated an exclusive Mardi Gras parade. The billionaire businessman said it was an honour and a once-in-a-lifetime experience to don a drum major’s uniform and march [...]
Not going anywhere: Virgin Galactic flights grounded pending mishap probe September 3, 2021 The U.S. Federal Aviation Administration has barred Virgin Galactic from flying its SpaceShipTwo until the agency approves its final mishap investigation report from its July flight. Watch the full report.
Probe: Richard Branson’s Virgin Galactic space flight ‘deviated’ September 2, 2021 US regulators have launched a probe into Sir Richard Branson’s flight to the edge of space after the Virgin Galactic SpaceShipTwo vehicle deviated on return to Earth. The billionaire businessman became the first owner-astronaut to take part in a mission when taking off in July, which he hailed as an “experience of a lifetime”. But [...]
Screenshot: Have Bezos and Branson ushered in a new era of space tourism? July 23, 2021 This week **Media Moment of the Week: Badger, mushroom, snake **Have Bezos and Branson ushered in a space tourism boom? **No more chill for Netflix Media Moment of the Week: Badger, mushroom, snake Want to feel old? The iconic animated badger video (you know the one) is now almost 18 years old. Aside from lamenting [...]
Space-tech: Billionaire Bezos’ flight to space to draw in starry-eyed investors July 21, 2021 Following Amazon boss Jeff Bezos’ 10-minute venture into space yesterday, space-tech investment may be set to rocket, space-fund boss Mark Boggett has said. Just last week Boggett’s space investment firm Seraphim Space listed on the London Stock Exchange after rallying £178.4m from starry-eyed investors in mid-July. “Branson, Musk and Bezos initially cracked open the [...]