Richard Branson is an English businessman and investor who is best known for founding the Virgin Group, comprised of more than 400 companies. With a net worth around $5 billion dollars, he is one of the world’s wealthiest men.
Born in London, the oldest of three children, Branson attended an independent school in Buckinghamshire until he was sixteen. He did poorly at school and had a poor academic performance as he suffered from dyslexia. Ironically, this prompted the headmaster at Stowe School to tell him on the last day that he would either end up in prison or become a millionaire. Branson obviously chose the second option.
His first venture into the business world was when he was only sixteen years old, with the publication of a magazine called Student. From there, Branson went on to create his own mail-order record business which branched into a chain of stores, Virgin Megastores. His brand became so popular he was able to expand into his own music label in the 1980’s, Virgin Records.
Richard Branson began his life of business ventures with the magazine in the 1960’s and the music business in the 1970’s, then into television and the airlines in the 1980’s. In the 1990’s, he made attempts in the railroad business, as well as the vodka and cola markets. There were even ventures into the space field, fuel markets, cable television and mobile phone industry.
Branson has gone from the struggling, dyslexic student to one of the most creative, daring and successful businessmen of his time. Branson states that his business ventures, television/print/film debuts, record breaking attempts, and humanitarian initiatives have all been the result of setting himself up against seemingly impossible challenges in order to rise above them. His philosophy is to live life to the fullest and attempt it all.