Richard Branson

Richard Branson "was born in 1950 and educated at Stowe School. It was here that he began to set up Student Magazine when he was just 16. By 17 he'd also set up Student Advisory Centre, which was a charity to help young people.

"In 1970 he founded Virgin as a mail order record retailer, and not long after he opened a record shop in Oxford Street, London. During 1972 a recording studio was built in Oxfordshire, and the first Virgin artist, Mike Oldfield, recorded "Tubular Bells" which was released in 1973...

"In 2002, the combined sales of the different Virgin holding companies exceeded £4billion. In addition to his own business activities, Richard is a trustee of several charities including the Virgin Healthcare Foundation, a leading healthcare charity which was responsible for the launch of a health education campaign relating to AIDS in 1987..."

His son Sam Branson noted in 2008 that his dad is "working with James Lovelock and they’re coming out with some ideas on alternative bio-fuels and things like that."

"And now Richard Branson is moving onward and upward into space (tourism): Virgin Galactic's Philippe Starck-designed, The first Burt Rutan-engineered spacecraft, The Enterprise, completed its first captive carry in early 2010 and is slated to start carrying passengers into the thermosphere in 2012, at $200,000 a ticket. "

Affiliations

 * Founder, Virgin Care
 * Founder, Virgin Active
 * Director, Suzanne Mubarak Women's International Peace Movement
 * Club 21 Member, Peace Parks Foundation
 * Patron, Terrence Higgins Trust
 * Patron, Mineseeker Foundation
 * Cofounder, Carbon War Room
 * Founder, Virgin Money Giving
 * Founder, OceanElders
 * Founder, Virgin Earth Challenge
 * Founder, Virgin Green Fund
 * Founder, UN Correspondents Association
 * Advisory Board, Global Business Coalition
 * Advisory Board, World Peace Festival
 * Distinguished Fellow, Centre for the Mind
 * Councilor, Copenhagen Climate Council
 * Commissioner, Global Commission on Drug Policies
 * Supporter, Women and Cancer Fund
 * International Advisory Council, Mary Robinson Foundation - Climate Justice
 * Celebrity Ambassador, WildAid
 * Patron, Prisoners Abroad
 * Honoree of the 2010 David Rockefeller Bridging Leadership Award
 * Global Advisory Committee, Earth Day Network

Criticism

 * Scott Prudham, "Pimping climate change: Richard Branson, global warming, and the performance of green capitalism," Environment and Planning A, 41(7), 2009, pp.1594–1613. Workshop given at the Rockefeller Center
 * Aditya Chakrabortty, "Is Richard Branson all he's cracked up to be?", The Guardian, November 21, 2011.
 * Michael Barker, "Richard Branson's Year", Swans Commentary, December 19, 2011.

Biography/Autobiography

 * Bower, Tom. Branson, 2001.
 * Branson, Sir Richard. Screw It, Let's Do It Expanded: Lessons in Life and Business, 2007.
 * Branson, Richard (3 June 2010). Reach for the Skies: Ballooning, Birdmen and Blasting Into Space. Virgin Books.
 * Branson, Richard (2 July 2009). Business Stripped Bare.
 * Specter, Michael. "Profiles: Branson's Luck". The New Yorker, 14 May 2007, pp. 114–25.

Related Sourcewatch articles

 * Virgin Unite
 * Virgin Media
 * Soldiers of Peace
 * Spaceport Authority
 * Convergence Africa
 * Eve Branson Foundation
 * New Entrepreneurs Foundation
 * New Frontiers in Philanthropy
 * Six Sense SLOWLIFE Symposium
 * LanzaTech
 * Mike Kendrick
 * Virgin Racing
 * Virgin Entertainment Group
 * Daron Joffe
 * Choice Point Movement