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Richard Branson

FB Roundup: Scholastic Corporation, Hyatt Hotels Corporation, Virgin Galactic

August 20, 2021

Scholastic Corporation owner Richard Robinson Jr has cut family out of succession plan, Pritzker family’s Hyatt hotel chain doubles stake in luxury resorts, Richard Branson sells $300 million shares in Virgin Galactic.

Scholastic Corporation owner Richard Robinson Jr has cut family out of succession plan

The family behind the US publisher of Harry Potter and The Hunger Games is reportedly reviewing its legal options after its principal left the $1.2 billion business to his lover.

Art as collateral during the coronavirus crisis

May 6, 2020

Richard Branson has offered his home, Necker Island, as security to the UK Government, in the hope of obtaining a £500 million loan to support Virgin Atlantic through the coronavirus crisis. Many business owners, and other individuals, around the UK will need to source funding at this time, but may be unable or unwilling to mortgage their home. They may therefore be looking at what other forms of collateral they might offer to lenders.

FB Roundup special: Family businesses versus the coronavirus

March 15, 2020

Global family businesses are stepping up to the challenge of the deadly coronavirus pandemic by safeguarding staff, adapting production lines and pledging millions of dollars to the medical relief effort.

Lord Bamford (pictured), the second-generation chairman of JCB, said his $5 billion manufacturing family business had been approached by UK Prime Minister Boris Johnson to see if it can help with the production of ventilators. The machines help the breathing of patients whose lungs have been damaged by COVID-19.

Digitise or jeopardise? Family businesses in the year 2050

April 24, 2018

How can family businesses not just survive, but thrive in an era of big data and automation? James Beech asks futurologists what the world will look like for families by the middle of the 21st century and how families, with their patient capital, can start shaping tomorrow today.

Ferrari is at a crossroads. The family-controlled supercar maker’s conundrum is laid bare at the end of an exhibition at the Design Museum in London that celebrates the marque’s 70th anniversary.

FB Roundup: Virgin Atlantic, Akka Technologies, and Raymond Sackler

August 3, 2017

Richard Branson sells majority stake in Virgin Atlantic, 'Dividend darling' Akka's revenue up 21%, and Pharmaceutical entrepreneur Raymond Sackler dies

Richard Branson sells majority stake in Virgin Atlantic

Richard Branson is to loosen his grip on Virgin Atlantic, selling 31% of the company to Air France-KLM for $291 million(£220 million).

The billionaire, whose flamboyance is synonymous with the Virgin brand, would retain a 20% interest, with US carrier Delta controlling the remaining 49%.

Letter from the US: US grocer Wegmans and the secret sauce of family firms

June 10, 2016

Employee engagement may be dismissed by some as paternalistic and weak, but it is the major weapon in a family business that public or private equity-backed firms struggle to replicate

Employee engagement may be dismissed by some as paternalistic and weak, but it is the major weapon in a family business that public or private equity-backed firms struggle to replicate

Commercial Space

August 6, 2013

Space - the final frontier. No longer just the science fiction voyages of the Starship Enterprise but a real adventure opening up for tourism.

Dennis Tito, a spritely 72-year-old American, wants to send people to the planet Mars. The multi-millionaire has set up the Inspiration Mars Foundation and plans to send a couple on a 501-day round trip to the red planet in 2018.

Space is something Tito knows well. He was the first space tourist, paying Russia a reported $20 million (€15.4 million) for a ticket to the International Space Station in 2001. He and others, including the entrepreneur Richard Branson, are leading efforts to commercialise space travel.

The Giving Pledge gathers momentum with support of family business leaders

February 22, 2013

Some high-profile family business leaders have become the latest names to join the Giving Pledge – an initiative where billionaires promise publicly to give at least half their wealth to charity over the course of their lifetime.

British entrepreneur Richard Branson – founder of Virgin – and his wife Joan have signed the pledge, along with Azim Premji – the second-gen chairman of Indian software company Wipro. They are among 12 billionaires who have joined the initiative this year.

Move over, Dad?

August 7, 2012

It can be hard for founders to let go of their businesses. But if the family firm is going to survive they’ve got to know when the buzz is gone.

The names trip easily off the tongue: Rothschild, Rockefeller, Sainsbury—the world is awash with great business dynasties. And, with one-third of Fortune 500 companies remaining in family hands, what are the best ways of securing the family fortunes through the generations? How can families pursue successful succession strategies?

Outings in outerspace

March 1, 2008

The world is getting smaller – more and more people can afford to go to increasingly exotic destinations with relative ease. There is, as Nick Leader discovers, only one place left to travel to for those who are after the ultimate getaway: space

If things stay on course, we are less than two years away from the media event of the decade or, quite possibly, the century. In 2009 Virgin Galactic, the commercial space line founded by Sir Richard Branson, is scheduled to launch its inaugural spaceflight from Spaceport America in the Mojave desert, New Mexico.